Renegade: The Story of Shin
by Angel Stryker
Summary: Companion story to Firefly: Queen of the New Breed. Now that the Gold Unit is no more, a Raichu from the unit breaks free of Giovanni's control and desires revenge against both Team Rocket for what they did... And a certain Vulpix for what she did...
1. Recognition

I don't own pokemon, k?

**Renegade: The Story of Shin**

Chapter One: Recognition

"Just where do you think you're going?"

"Wherever the hell I please, why? Are you planning on trying to stop me?"

"If I have to, you know I will."

"… I dare you…"

That was the last exchange between the head scientist of the fusion department, James Hilton and one of his latest subjects, a Raichu. Ever since the escape of a Vulpix, a Growlithe, a Charizard, a Igglybuff, a Jigglypuff, a Smoochum, a Roselia, a Pikachu, a Skitty, a baby Kangaskhan and three unhatched eggs, the Team Rocket headquarters had been stirred up by both everyone wondering where they went and also how they got out. Now, there was another problem on hand for the Rockets. One of Hilton's pet projects had developed self-awareness while out on a mission to track down the escaped group of pokemon.

After finding the group of escapees and battling them along with the other pokemon and their trainers with the Gold Unit, a Ninetails showed up out of nowhere and wiped the team out. One Rocket sacrificed over half of the team just to save his life. As far as the Raichu knew, he was the only surviving pokemon from the Rocket's squad as far as he could remember. During the battle, he noticed how wickedly the Ninetails took out the rest of the pokemon. First the Fearow, then the Kecleon and so on until he was left alone. In his mind, even though he knew he was probably the strongest of the Gold Unit pokemon, deep down he knew that he was way out of his league. If only he wasn't newly transferred for usage for this unit, he might've been let out to join the battle from the get-go… but would things have gone differently?

A few minutes into the fight, he had started to come to terms with just how futile this was. After a few more strikes, the Ninetails nailed him with an intense Flamethrower, sending him into a large rock near the fallen Houndoom.

Everything afterwards was blank to him…

When he awoke, the sense of belonging to Team Rocket had vanished from his mind, anger towards the group of escapees and towards the Rockets is what replaced it, and a desire to cause pain to all who crossed him.

…He would start with the scientist that was responsible for his tests… and he knew just where to find him… His small outpost near a mountain range in Western Ichis.

"You knew what I was walking into, didn't you? You knew that we didn't stand a chance against that type of power, didn't you?" the Raichu asks the professor calmly yet with a hint of anger in his voice.

"…Yes… Yes I knew, I was one of the head scientists in the labs when it and the others were going through the experiments." Hilton responds.

"Then why didn't you tell anyone what that thing could do?! It took all my abilities just to stay alive when that damn Ninetails appeared!"

"I technically don't have to tell anyone anything, unless of course Giovanni says to." Hilton tells him, a smirk spreading across his face which is followed by him releasing a green Drapion, it's eyes were a dark shade of gold, a tell-tale sign that it had been experimented on. "I don't think I need to mention that this one has been …'tampered' with, do I?"

"When I get through with him, you better not be standing the same spot you're in right now…" the Raichu tells Hilton before lunging toward the large scorpion pokemon.

As he flew through the air, the Drapion slid to the right slightly and hit the Raichu with it's left claw, sending him barreling into a few crates in the corner.

"I better not be standing here anymore? How about you worry about Drapion before worrying about me, eh?" Hilton chimes in before laughing mockingly towards him. "Drapion, finish him off quickly so we can toss him out with the rest of the failed garbage…"

"Finish me off?" the Raichu responds while rising back to it's feet, the brown colors on it's fur turning black and it's tail turning a shade of red while the tip of it extends slightly to resemble a blade. After noticing the change in his appearance, he smirks grimly "You need to worry more about how you're going to survive this ordeal."

After a few seconds, the Drapion charges him. The Raichu leaps into the air, nimbly and uses his tail to strike the scorpion pokemon in the back of the head, leaving a long scar up the back of it's head, causing blood to seep down it's back and it to screech in pain before spinning around and swiping at the Raichu unsuccessfully. Finally the Raichu stabs the Drapion in the back with it's tail and Discharges, frying the pokemon inside and out and watches it crumple to the ground afterwards, smoke billowing from the stab wound the tail had left.

"Now… you were say- Ahh!" he starts but is interrupted when Hilton strikes him across the face with a blade before running out of the room frantically.

"You'll see me again, Project Shin! And you won't fair so well when that happens" Hilton calls out from down the hallway of the small facility.

"Grrr… Bastard!" the Raichu yells out while wiping the blood out of his eye and looking around, his vision blurred and tinted red. After a few minutes the bleeding slowed almost to a stop and his vision returned to normal, the strike leaving a vertical scar across his left eye.

"I'll find you… and when I do, you'll wish I would've killed you here and now…"

After leaving the room where he battled the Drapion, the Raichu walks back through the hallway he came through originally on his way to find Hilton. On his way in, he killed everyone and everything that got in his way from scientists to pokemon, it didn't matter. Now on his way out, he looks around to survey his handiwork. Glass broken, bodies all around, papers either burnt up or shredded and computers shorted out. Safe to say that this facility is now shut down.

Before leaving, he stops in front of a mirror to survey the change in his appearance. The brown tips of his hand, the brown strips on his back and the brown tips of his feet had all become black. And lightning bolt-like tip of his tail had become red with the end of it extending roughly 3 inches farther out and with a sharp end to it, as was evident by the damage he did with just his tail on the Drapion.

"So… this is what they did to me, I have to say… I like it…" he whispers to nobody in particular before smashing the mirror with his tail and leaving the small facility.

Upon exiting, he surveys his surroundings to find out if anyone from inside had been able to find their way outside somehow. Luckily for him, there was a person in a lab coat stumbling slowly towards the trees off to the east.

"Well, well, well… What do we have here? A straggler? Trying to get away, I presume?" he mockingly taunts the badly injured scientist who falls to the ground after seeing the Raichu standing a couple feet from him.

"W-what do you want?" the scientist asks, obviously shaken.

After thinking over his options, he decides on a question, "Tell me what you know about this Ninetails…"

"I don't know anything, I was just an assistant!" he responds while slowly pulling himself away from him.

"Don't you lie to me…"

"I swear I'm not, Hilton kept all of the assistants in the dark when it came to the big projects. All I know is that the Ninetails… It's power… It's devastating. When I saw the Vulpix, I had no clue it would turn into that… monst-"

"A Vulpix?" Shin interrupts and thinks back to the fight that he had against the Ninetails. He recalled seeing a Vulpix there beforehand, but paid no heed. Now though, it was making sense… "That one little Vulpix… became the Ninetails mid-battle? How'd I miss something like that?"

While he was thinking in his head about what had happened and the obviousness of the winged Vulpix, the scared scientist was trying to sneak away, hoping that the Raichu wouldn't notice him while being deep in thought. He was roughly about ten feet away when…

"Where the hell are you going…?"

"Gah… I-I'm just an assistant, please don't hurt me!"

"Oh I won't hurt you…" the Raichu replies before turning towards him. "I'm going to kill you."

"N-no! Nooo!" the assistant yells out just before the Raichu lunges towards him and stabs him in the stomach with the tip of his tail.

"Gah….grh…."

"I want to let you in on something, 'Assistant'… I'm not just some nameless Raichu that you find in the bushes…" he starts before beginning to slowly rotate the blade of his tail inside the man's stomach, blood seeping out and around the wound, oozing out around him slowly as the color fades from his face and his eyes begin to slowly close, death creeping up on him.

"From now on, you… and all the other bastards that chose to spend their lives toying with the DNA of pokemon and changing them to… whatever the hell they want… from now on, you'll know me… as Shin." he tells him before sending an electric shock through his tail and zapping the man, killing him instantly.

After a few seconds of looking the assistant over, he pulls his tail out and whips it once to sling the blood off of the tip.

Not really knowing where to head next, he decides to stay put at the facility to plot his next destination… whether to head out after that Vulpix, or find another small facility and dismantle it and hope to find out some clues as to where Hilton would be heading.

"_If I decide to go after Hilton, I'll more than likely lose any hopes of finding that Vulpix for the time being. And if I go for the Vulpix, then the same goes for Hilton_." he thinks to himself before settling down to sit on a dead body that was laying in the doorway of a room inside the facility. He knew that one way or the other, he'd lose track of one of his targets when he went for the other. He just had to decided which one he wanted to take care of first. After roughly 10 minutes, he nods to himself on a decision.

"Alright…" he starts before rising to his feet. "You're first on my list…"


	2. Confrontation

**Chapter 2: Confrontations**

"_Now… if I were a Vulpix… where would I be headed…" _he thinks to himself while walking down a path through some trees.

After mulling over his options, he decided to handle things with the Vulpix. He also figured that if he was right on his assumption, that Giovanni would be after the Vulpix and it's group, then where he'd find it, he'd find the Rockets. The only problem that, at the moment, he had was trying to track the Vulpix.

"_There's too damn many scents to follow in this blasted forest… And her traveling with so many _pokémon_ doesn't help either… I don't know which scents are from the ones with her and which are just random ones that stay in the forest." _he continues to himself, getting frustrated at the problems he's having with trying to track his target, the Vulpix.

"_Well, this is going to be a very enjoyable task…" _he continues, in mock-anger. _"I can't fly, so there's no option to see from above. And there's too many different scents and tracks, so I can't really follow any set trail either. So for now, I'm stuck to just picking a direction and walking… Great…"_

***

A couple hours later he found himself walking across some very unfriendly terrain and cursing to himself the whole time about choosing such a horrible route to take.

"…Should've just gone around this damn mountain… Doesn't make any sense to actually go _over_ the blasted thing when I don't even know whether or not I'm even headed in the right direction." he commented to himself. "Next time I need to think this out before I go off and travel without realizing just what I'm walking into, why couldn't Hilton and the Rockets enhance the durability and toughness of the soles of my feet while they were at it… Good for nothings…"

After traveling for what felt like hours and hours on end, he decided to take a rest and get something to eat. Since the area he was occupying didn't have many trees and what trees there were didn't have anything but Tamato berries on them, so Shin decided to go the more… filling route.

He waited a couple minutes until he saw a flock of Starly flying overhead. Just as they had almost passed by, he unleashed a thundershock, striking down one of the birds in a smoking heap at his feet which brought a smile to his face.

"Wrong place… wrong time, little one…" he told the small, dead bird pokémon that lay on the ground in front of him.

As he was reaching down to pick it up he heard a bunch of Staravia and Staraptors squawking off in the distance. He looked up to the direction the Starly he killed was going to see a flock of ten bird pokemon flying towards him, he identified them to be the upset Staravia's and Staraptor's he heard and realized that they were probably coming to avenge their fallen friend.

"You can't be serious…" he thought to himself, wondering if these bird pokemon were seriously coming after him, an electric pokemon. "Are you all really willing to sacrifice your lives, for some small, pestilent little runt?!" he yells to the frenzied flock as the close in.

"… You're all just as ignorant as that steel Ditto…" he muttered to himself before smirking wryly, "Now Die! Just like he did!" he finished before charging up.

Almost instantly, his cheeks began to spark, the intensity of the sparks growing with each second as the frenzied birds were too blind with rage to realize the danger they were all in. A few of them began initiating the long, arching motion needed for Aerial Ace while the others started surrounding him. Before they could get too close, electricity began to crackle and pop from the point of the Raichu's tail, making most of the birds hesitate.

"…Dis… Charge…" he whispered under his breath before jerking to stand upright, and sending a charge of electricity outward. The wave struck all the birds around him at different points, causing all of them to scream in pain and fall to the ground. The weaker ones fell dead in a circle around him, a few of their wings twitching before all movements stopped as smoke billowed from their fallen bodies. The others that were able to survive the attack flew away to safety, although some didn't manage to stay in the air for long and fell to the ground to their death. All together, three managed to survive while the other seven died either as they were struck, or later on, during their attempted escape.

"Hm…" he started while looking around at all the birds. "Why eat a Starly when there's a perfectly fine Staravia a few feet from it?" he asked himself before kicking the Starly away and turning his attention to a Staravia that had fallen to it's death during Discharge.

After cooking the bird and eating the pieces he wanted, he sat back and began thinking about the fight with the Ninetails. About how it seemingly could've killed him at any time it wanted to…

"…_Was I lucky to survive? Did that thing just… allow me to live?" _he thought to himself. _"No… it's the one that got lucky." _he deduced before kicking the remains of the bird pokemon away in disgust.

Deep down, he knew that he was, and still is, no match for a pokemon of that caliber. He just didn't know how to accept it. In his mind, he was the number one, the alpha and omega of pokemon in general. The ultimate in the way of power, speed, stamina and all other categories. For him, to take a back seat to any pokemon in any thing was viewed as demeaning.

"Just because that damn Ninetails got the jump on me, doesn't mean anything! I have killed countless pokemon, all more powerful than it was." he yelled out to no one while looking upward, at the sky.

After resting for a couple minutes longer, he starts to get groggy and decides that he should rest here until the morning. So he gets a comfortable as he can and begins to drift off…

"How would you like to test that theory?"

"Wha-…" he responds, before looking around, his vision slightly off from his tiredness.

"You being the strongest, you want to test that out?" the voice asks again.

"Who are you?! Show yourself!" he yells out, looking around before his eyes fall upon a black silhouette in the distance. "Who are you?!" he yells again, his cheeks sparking. He takes a few steps towards the figure, sliding his tail across the ground to send a few sparks flying out from the friction.

"You… You're that Ninetails, you're the one that-"

"I'm the one that you can't possibly defeat."

"Grr… I can and will destroy you." he growls while still taking slow, small steps towards the Ninetails.

"If you think you can, try me. Go ahead, I won't even move." she taunts him, a smile spreading across her face as her blood-red eyes glare at him.

"You're dead!" he yells as he lunges towards the black demon.

Instead of moving, she simply hit him with Thunderwave which paralyzed him on the spot and rendered him motionless.

"Agh… Let… Let me loose… Or…"

"Or what, hmm?" she asks him before moving to within inches of his face, still smiling at him, causing his blood to boil. "You'll… Tickle me? Or make my chest itch with one of your miniscule attacks?"

"You… I'll… I'll kill you…" he growls to her, his anger reaching a new high.

"Who's the ultimate, now?" she asks as flaming embers begin to slowly seep through her teeth, the beginnings of a Flamethrower. "Hold still, little Raichu" she tells him, mockingly.

"This won't hurt a bit." and with that, she fired the Flamethrower on him, engulfing him in a sea of flames.

"NO!" he yells and jerks upward into a seated position. "Wh… what happened? The… Ninetails was right here," he babbled out, still rattled. "Was it… a dream? Or… Or a vision of what's to come or what?"

After a few seconds of calming down, he slams his fist onto a rock and curses to himself.

"Dammit… what's wrong with me?! I'M the almighty! Why am I so rattled by a Ninetails?" he yells, once again to nobody. "There has to be something I'm not understanding or getting… That Ninetails is so powerful, yet a Vulpix' conscience can keep it at bay… Is it mentally weak? Or is the Vulpix the superior one?" he wondered, thinking of all the factors that went into play.

"Whatever the issue is, there is something to that Vulpix. Something keeps her in control, and something makes her transform… And I'm going to find out what those things are and then I'll destroy her and her Ninetails form once and for all, and then it's on to Giovanni…" he told himself before laying back down. He could feel sleep coming to him once again, this time without anything hindering him from drifting off…


	3. Revelation

**Chapter 3: Revelation**

The next morning, Shin decided that it'd be best to take his time and actually think things through before jumping up and doing them after having to deal with a day's worth of rocky terrain and a horrible night. The Ninetails vision wasn't the only thing that ruined his night though, halfway through, a pack of Mightyena passed through and found the remains of the flock of birds that Shin had electrocuted to death and settled down to pick up his scraps.

"Tch… mindless scavengers." he said aloud, not caring who heard.

"They are, aren't they?" a voice replied, causing him to look around and sneer.

"Show yourself or die." he responded while rising to his feet and charging up as made evident by his cheeks beginning to spark.

"Aggressive and straight to the point… I like that" the voice replied before walking from behind a rock and revealing itself to be a black and gold Mawile. "I have to admit though, I was hoping these… scavengers as you call them would've tried to jump you. I wanted to see how well you would've handled the situation."

"Well, if that's the case. Why don't you 'jump' me and see how I'll handle the situation?" he replied with a smirk across his face.

Upon hearing his response, the Mawile began laughing. "Oh, no no no. I don't do that." she started. "When I attack, I make sure the opponent knows I'm coming, it makes the situation more satisfying when he or she falls over dead."

"Well, I know you're coming."

"Precisely" she responded before her body seemed to split into replica's, double team. She continued to divide until she had Shin surrounded. "Do you know what happens when the sun is as bright as it is this morning?" she asked, causing him to look up.

In actuality, the sun did seem to be brighter now that he looked. "I'm presuming that there's some logic behind this?"

After shifting his gaze back to one of the images, he notices that the large mouth of the pokémon was open and a large and bright ball of energy had formed and was ready to fire. All around him, the images were readying the attack.

"S-Solar Beam?!" he yelled out before all the images fazed out, leaving one to his right which fired the attack directly at him. "Tch… Dammit" he thought to himself before bracing for impact by bringing his hands up in front of him.

A split-second later the beam hit and sent him sliding across the gravel and rock until he slid into a large rock near the edge of a cliff with a thudding sound.

"Gah!" he grunted after coming to a sudden stop against the rock, his feet burning with pain after sliding across the gravel and sharp rocks. After slamming into the rock, he felt it crack behind him, and then the attack finally subsided.

"Like I said, I like for my opponent to know when I'm coming. Makes things more interesting," the Mawile casually mentioned as she looked at the Raichu against the cracked rock, blood slowly coming from both it's paws and it's feet. "Hm, or maybe not. Seems I overdid it again." she said before beginning to walk over to the pokémon.

"…You… Are mine…" Shin muttered to her before raising his eyes to meet hers, a shocked expression on her face as he lunges towards her, his tail beginning to shine and turn a silvery color.

Frozen in place by the surprise of Shin, seemingly not being fazed by the Solar Beam, the Mawile just stares at him as he continues to charge her, "No…. way…"

As he reaches her, he slams his tail into the ground right in front of her, making a gaping slice in the terrain. "You aren't even worth killing…" he told her before raising his tail up and walking through her, his shoulder hitting against hers as he walks by her.

"What do you mean? I almost killed you with Solar Beam!" she yelled to him, and begins to follow behind him.

"I could've just as easily used Substitute and struck you down mid-attack." he responded without breaking stride. "You really too much on theatrics and long-winded attacks, I could've killed you whenever I pleased."

Knowing that everything he's saying is true, she decides on something…

"Train me!" she yelled, causing him to stop and turn to her.

"Do what?"

"Train me, please."

"Why should I train you?" he asked her, not understanding the motive behind such a request.

"I could help you at whatever you're doing!" she responded, hoping that he'll agree.

"What in the hell makes you think…" he started while walking up to her, their faces now inches apart. "That I need help?"

Feeling a little uneasy in her current situation, she tries to respond. "W-well… Bigger numbers… always do better, r-right?" she asked. Her confidence nowhere near what it had been when she was attacking.

"…I'm not training you."

"I'll do anything! I just want to be stronger!" she pleaded, he could sense the desperation in her voice and the hope in her eyes.

"…Fine, but you do what I tell you to do it, got it?" he told her. "You will learn from my actions and what I say, any deviations from what I show you or tell you to do…" he started and let linger for a bit, "and you won't like the repercussions."

"Yes, I understand. Thank you… sir?" she responded, unsure of what to refer to him as since he never said his name.

"Shin, you call me Shin"

"Ok, Shin." she answered. "My name's Rei."

"Fine, now let's go, I've already wasted enough time standing here…" he told her before beginning to walk off.

*******

"Hm… looks familiar…" he thought to himself as he looked upon the area before him, bodies of people and pokémon littered the area.

"Wow… This must've been some nasty battle," Rei chimed in while looking at the bodies.

"…It was"

"You make it sound like you were here when it happened." she responded while glancing over the fallen bodies.

"I was, this is where a team rocket unit fought a group of escaped pokémon." he told her, looking at the slightly-decayed body of a Houndoom laying next to a Fearow, also decayed a bit.

"Oh, and it's pretty obvious that you and your group won. But then why did you split up? Did they die later on?" she asked him while picking up a wing of the fallen Fearow and letting it drop back on the ground. "Ew…"

"Yeah, the group won. I was a member of the Gold Unit though, not the escapee's." he told her, before walking away from his former comrade.

"You were a Rocket?!" she blurted out.

"I was, yes."

"W-why though? They're horrible people!"

"Simple, they captured me a long time ago and I was their's." he replied rather matter-of-factly.

"So… are you still with them?" she wondered, looking at him a little warily.

"No, I'm not. I plan on destroying them, and killing Giovanni in the process eventually.

"So that's what you were talking about needing to do earlier?"

"No, that's second on my list… First on my list is killing a certain pokémon that I had a battle with."

"Really? Why?"

"We fought a short time ago, it was a Ninetails that had… Impossible power…" he started and continued to explain just what had happened in their encounter. How he felt, knowing that it could've killed him at any point, yet he still lives…

"So… You want to get revenge on her because you feel that you are better than her?"

"No, I will get revenge because I _Know_ I'm better than her!" he yelled at Rei, a glare in his eyes that seems to spark up whenever "She" is brought up. "I'm the ultimate! The Alpha and Omega of pokémon, you hear me?!" he continued, slightly spooking Rei in the process. "Nobody is above me, No One!"

"O… Ok… I'm sorry." she stammered, looking down at the ground and to the side.

His blood boiling now from bringing up that touchy subject, he turns away in a huff and walks across the battlefield.

"_He… He seems almost obsessed with that other pokémon_." Rei thought to herself while walking over to the Houndoom's body.

"_But with what I've seen, how can that Ninetails be THAT strong compared to him? It has to be enhanced by the Rockets, like he said. And all the Ninetails I've run across have been an off-white or cream-ish color, he said thie one's black with like a red jewel on it's forehead_."

"What's this?" Rei said aloud while walking up on what looked to be a grave. "Hey, Shin. It's a grave."

"Who's it for?" he responded, not all that interested in her findings.

"It says here… someone named… 'Ironside' and then there's a feather below his name. Did you all have someone in your unit name Ironside?" she asked him.

"No, we never had anyone with us called that." he told her before walking over to the grave himself. "Might've been that Ditto's name that the others killed."

"Oh, well it looks like it's friends buried him… That's nice that they went out of their way and did that, don't you think?"

"If he would've used his brain half as much as he used his unusual power, he wouldn't have needed this grave." he replied before turning around and walking off "Come on, we're leaving." he told her, causing her to turn around. She then glanced back to the grave and placed a small flower she saw laying on the ground on top of it.

"He shouldn't be so cold…" she told herself after looking at the small, red flower she placed on the rocks that made up Ironside's grave. Afterwards she hurried to catch up to Shin.

"Where are we headed?" she asked.

"I sense something in the air… It's a long ways away, but there's a struggle going on somewhere in front of us." he replied while sniffing the air a couple times.

"You can tell? Do you know how far we are away from it?"

"I'd say… three or four hours at best, so by the time we start making any progress it'll more-than-likely be over."

"So why bother following the trail if nothing's going to be there when we get there?" she wondered, not really understanding.

"If we follow where we feel the struggle is coming from, even if it's over by the time we get there it just means we're on the right track and getting a little bit closer. I'll settle for getting a bit closer instead of making no progress whatsoever." he told her before continuing onward.

"Well, that makes sense." she responded before continuing on behind him.

With the surroundings being nothing but a few large rocks here and there, visibility was not an issue in the least. And thus, Shin and Rei were able to see pretty far as the trekked closer to Shin's target, the Ninetails that had damaged his pride so badly.

"Is that… Is that a Raticate with two little babies up ahead, Shin" Rei asked, not quite sure.

"Hm… yes, yes it is…" he responded with a smile spreading across his face once more...


	4. Ramifications

**Ramifications**

The reason behind his smirk was because he recognized the mother Raticate and her two babies. While they were fighting the Ninetails, he remembered seeing certain pokémon on the sidelines. The rats, an Igglybuff, a Jigglypuff and a Poochyena among others. Some of the pokémon in the group had either specific colorations or unique features, so he'd be able to distinguish them from a group of pokémon of the same species. While this Raticate and the two baby Rattata's didn't share the same unique markings the others had, he could tell that they were the same ones.

Before long, the mother noticed them, but didn't seem to recognize the Raichu from the battle and approached them with her babies in tow, hiding behind her legs from the two unknown pokémon.

"Excuse me, would you two happen to know where to find a nearby forested area where more pokémon like myself live? We'd like to find other Rattata and Raticate to join with instead of traveling alone." the mother explains to them.

"Well, if I remember correctly. If you go south of here…" Rei started while pointing in the direction she meant and motioning to a small and rocky path, "You should be able to find some trees and a more forested area than this."

"Oh, really? Well, thank you very much." the mother Raticate responds before motioning for her babies to follow her due south.

"You weren't traveling with a group of fugitive pokémon… were you?" Shin asks, not looking at her but instead off to the direction she was standing at first.

She stops in her tracks, a little startled by the question before turning to the Raichu and answering, "Y-yes. Yes I was."

"With a certain… black Ninetails?"

"W-what?" she responded, now feeling very scared and wondering just how this Raichu knew of Firefly's other form.

"Let me guess, wondering how I know of her?" he asked, now smiling as he turns to face her. "It's pretty simple, really. You see… I'm a surviving member of the Gold Unit." he told her, watching the look on her face turn to sheer horror at realizing just what she had walked into.

"N-no!" she stuttered. She then ushers her two little ones behind her and begins to slowly back away in the direction that she came. "Please… Please help us,Firefly." she whispered, hoping that somehow she would miraculously appear.

"Firefly? Is that the name of that Ninetails you've been traveling with?" Shin asked, suddenly interested.

The mother Raticate hesitates to answer, still slowly backing away.

"I'll tell you what, you tell me about this… 'Firefly'… and we'll let you go." Shin told her. "Because I don't see you living to see those two grow up any other way."

"I-I don't know much at all, I've only seen the Ninetails once."

"Don't lie to me…" Shin responded. Shin hadn't seen Firefly, only Saturnine since he wasn't released until Saturnine came to the surface, so at the moment he believes the Ninetails to be Firefly.

"I promise you, I'm not!. I've only seen the Ninetails one time!" she yelled out, her babies cowering closer to her from the yelling.

"I'm giving you until the count of five to tell me what I want to know about… Firefly"

Upon hearing the countdown, the mother knew that she either had to tell him what he wanted or she and possibly her little ones would be killed on the spot.

"…One"

Knowing that her two young ones would be either alone or dead alongside of her would haunt her well into her afterlife.

"…Two"

But could she live with herself, knowing that she had betrayed her friend's trust?

"…Three"

"Firefly is a Vulpix that has wings and when she gets extremely angry, she transforms into an evil, black Ninetails!" she told him, looking down and feeling like she had stabbed her friend in the back.

"… So then, that's what happened…" Shin whispered under his breath.

"What happened?" Rei asked.

"When the ditto was killed, she probably snapped and the Ninetails came out. It's also obvious that she's much stronger in her Ninetails form than in her Vulpix form." Shin explained.

As he continued to explain things to Rei, the mother Raticate and her babies were slowly making their way to the south. Hoping that either Shin wouldn't notice, or that it was ok for them to go now. After a few seconds, Shin glances over to them and smirks. "Where do you think you're going?"

She jerks her head up, "I.. I thought you said we could go if I told you." she responded.

"…I lied…"

"N-no! You can't! You sa-"

"I don't give a damn what you believe to be right and what you believe to be wrong! I'm the only one with a say here, you'd be best served to remember that, Raticate!" he yelled at her, scaring the two babies.

"Shin, c'mon. You have what you wanted, just let them go." Rei asked him which caused her to be the recipient of his glaring.

"… I suppose you're right, this time…" he resigned.

"Thank you, thank you so much." the Raticate told them before quickly taking her babies with her to the south.

"You're welcome!" Rei responded with a smile then turned to Shin afterwards who was staring a hole through her. "W-what?"

"If you decide to speak up against me again, you won't like how things end for you…" he told her before turning his back to her and continuing in the direction they were going.

"I-I'm sorry, Shin…"

"Whatever, let's go."

******

After the incident involving the Raticate, Rei could tell that Shin was upset with her and the way she asserted herself. What he didn't know was that there was a big reason why she felt the need to do that…

Back about a year ago, when she was still traveling around with her family and friends. They came across a clearing near a small pond and decided to take a short rest. Shortly after stopping, the echoing yells of two trainers began to fill the air and grow louder. Soon the trainers were within eyesight and spotted the group of traveling Mawile. They had all recently been to the nearby town's gym and all lost. So they were all in foul moods and wanting to find a way to let out their frustrations.

"Hey, Mike!" One of them called out to the other. "Look at all these Mawile just sitting here."

"Huh?" Mike responded before finding them as well. "Oh yeah, you thinking what I'm thinking?" he asked the other one.

"Yeah, our useless pokémon should be at least able to take this down"

They then released their pokémon which happened to be a Vaporeon and a Dragonite.

Since none of the Mawile's really knew how to fight, the massacre didn't take long to wrap up. The two trainer's two pokémon demolished the Mawile one by one without remorse while receiving tongue lashings from their trainers for losing the gym battle.

In the end, Rei and a close friend of hers, a male Mawile named Azell remained. The trainers taunted them for a bit, then one of them got an idea…

"Hey, you." Mike said and pointed to Azell. "Get down on your knees and bow to us."

That remark caused the other to start laughing, "Yeah, bow down to us and we'll let you go!" he chimed in.

"That's all ya gotta do, Mawile. Bow down, and we'll let you and your friend go free." the Mike told him.

"You don't have to do this, Azell, we can make a run for it." Rei told her friend.

"Listen, we wouldn't make it far with them using a Vaporeon and a Dragonite. I'll just do this and then we can check on the others…" he responded, even though he knew that everyone else was dead he was hoping that he could be wrong.

Just as the trainer demanded, he bowed to them slowly, while the two trainers laughed at him the whole time.

"There, that's a good Mawile… Now, Dragonite! Hyper Beam!"

"No! You said if he-" Rei began to yell only to get cut off by Azell shoving her out of the way and into the lake behind them.

As she flew backwards, things seemed to slow down as she watched her childhood friend take the Hyper Beam for her. She saw the beam slowly collide with him and the explode through his chest in a shower of blood and beam. As she hit the water, the beam traveled over her head and his body landed in the water on top of her, sending her and him down below the surface.

As she frantically tried to tug him to the surface, the trainers left, thinking that they were both dead anyways, so why bother staying around. They called their pokémon back and slowly left the area.

A few minutes later, Rei finally got to the surface but was having problems staying above it while holding onto Azell's body.

"Hold on Azell, I'll get you to the surface and then you'll be just fine!" she told him, desperately trying to keep her own head above water.

"Rei… don't…"

"Stop it! I'm not losing you too!" She yelled, her voice cracking from her exertion.

Finally, she was able to drag him to the edge and hold onto the bank to keep them afloat, but she couldn't pull herself without letting go of him.

"Rei… let me… go… I won't make it."

"Don't say that! You'll be fine! We'll just wait here for a few minutes while you regain your strength!" she told him, trying not to notice the steady spread of red tint across the small lake from the open wound in Azell's chest.

"Rei, if you stay in… In here, you'll… die… just like I'm going to." he stammered, his eyes misting over.

"Azell… No… Please don't…" she told him, tears beginning to fall from her eyes and hit the surface of the lake. "Don't leave me alone… I don't want to be alone."

"You'll never be alone… Trust me on that… I'll always be here, no matter… where you are…" he told her. "I'll… always be… there…" he finished before his eyes slowly closed and his labored breathing came to a halt.

"Azell?"

"…"

"Azell!" she yelled.

"Azell… No… Don't…" she began to cry and slowly loosened her grip on his arm and watched his lifeless body sink below the surface and slowly out of sight all together…

After a few seconds of crying, she finally climbed out of the water. Realizing she was now alone with nobody to turn to, she decided to leave the area. That night however, she vowed to do two things… if she ever came across those trainers again, she would get vengeance… And if she ever got into that situation again, she would make sure it wouldn't go down the same way. She wouldn't let another die a senseless death the same way her friend, Azell did…

******

"Rei, what're you doing?"

"Huh, what?" she responded then looked around and noticed that Shin was quite a ways ahead of her. She had apparently zoned out completely. "Oh, I'm sorry!" she told him and hurried to catch back up.

"Pay more attention next time…" Shin told her before looking up and noticing five black helicopters pass over them and head in the direction they were headed and soon after disappear from sight.

"… Those helicopters… They had red 'R's on them…"

"But then that would mean that they're Team Rocket's helicopters, right?"

"Right, and they're headed in the same direction we're headed so there's obviously something this way." he responded. "And whether that's an outpost, or a target… I'm interested, c'mon!" he told her before breaking off into a run.

"Wait up!" she called and began to run after him in the direction the helicopters had went.

"What happens if it's a trap or something, Shin?" she asked after catching up to him.

"This isn't a trap."

"How're you so sure though? It _is_ Team Rocket after all."

"Why would they send five different helicopters, all grouped together if their goal was to trap someone or something?" he responded and glanced toward her in the process. "Think before you do something, that goes for conversations and battles."

She looked at him for a few seconds, then it clicked, _"The Solar Beam that I fired on him!"_ she thought to herself. _"Think things through… If I had thought a bit before rushing into a long-winded attack like that, maybe things would've ended a little differently."_

As they continued running, the ground began to get more rocky and sloped. Soon, they had began to run uphill and almost into a full-blown climb.

"I'm guessing that we'll know where the Rocket's were going once we reach the top of this hill?" Rei asked, slightly winded from the long run.

"We'd better… I'm getting annoyed with all this running…"

****

"This is Unit Three, come in Unit One…"

"Unit One, come in." The voice repeated before being responded to.

"We were ordered to go under radio silence unless told otherwise or an emergency came up, Unit Three."

"Acknowledged, but we just broke off out designated route after spotting something."

"Unit Three, there had better be a good reason behind that."

"There is, we just spotted a gold and black Raichu with a red tail."

"You've spotted Project Shin?" he responded before turning away to whisper to someone behind him. Then some static can be heard from Unit Three's side and another voice comes over…

"You mean to tell me, that you broke out of formation to go after a target that is not of higher priority than the original target?" the new, and much more familiar voice asked.

"G-Gi-Giovanni, sir!"

"I'm waiting for your answer, and it had better be a good one…" Giovanni responded, the annoyance of the situation apparent in his voice.

"W-well, we were flying in formation as you told us to, sir, and then we spotted Project Shin on the ground below us."

"…And?"

"A-And we thought we would break out of formation to capture him since he was a high priority target if he were spotted." The Rocket operating Unit Three's radio responded.

"Pay attention to what I'm going to say… You have 20 minutes to land, capture the Raichu and return to your formation. Or the next time I see any of your faces, I will personally make sure you never think on your own again!… Understood?"

"Y-yes si-" he began to respond before realizing the radio was dead. Afterwards he turned to the rest of Unit Three and told them their orders.

"Men, we have 20 minutes to acquire Project Shin and rejoin the Unit's One through Five and resume our mission to recapture SPG-01! Let's get to it!"

"Sir!" they all answered in unison and preparations to land the helicopter.

******

"Shin!" Rei yelled out, noticing that one of the helicopters that had flown over before was landing roughly 50 feet in front of him.

"I know… Stand back…"

"But I can he-"

"I said stand back!" he yelled to her. She was frightened at first from his outburst but understood and ran to hide behind a rock.

"So… They broke off of their formation for me… Guess that means that I'm important, yet not as important as what they rest of them are going after… More than likely it's that Ninetails…" he told himself as he saw four grunts climb out of the helicopter and flank each other, one hand behind each of their backs and the other at their sides.

"Project Shin, right?" one yelled out to him after the helicopter's rotor had stopped.

"You know who and what I am…"

"We've come to return you to our headquarters. Do things have to get ugly?" the rocket asked.

"You all realize… that none of you stand a chance of leaving this battle alive, right?" Shin responded, a smirk crossing his face.

"Tch, stupid pokémon…"

"You're all going to die, your pokémon too. The minute you landed, you sealed your fate and turned in the timecard of your life."

"You're a cocky one… Raichu."

"Confidence and overpowering strength don't equal being cocky… But you seeing me does equal your death."

"Enough talk, you're coming with us, Raichu."

"Try me…"


	5. Complications

**Complications**

After words were said, the Rocket on the far left stepped forward and held up his pokéball and smirked towards the Raichu.

"Since we don't have long, why fool around? This pokémon will begin and end things right here and now." he taunted before tossing it into the air.

With a flash of light, a Zangoose appeared in front of Shin, snarling at him.

"Zangoose, we have orders to take him in alive and within twenty minutes. But other than those two stipulations… Do what you like." the Rocket told his pokémon.

"No problem…" it replied without looking away from it's opponent.

"You'll need twenty minutes just to touch me…" Shin told him, his cheeks starting to spark and crackle with electricity. "Good luck with trying to complete your mission in just twenty minutes. I bet you'll have to rush things just to finish up." he continued.

When he needed to be, Shin was notorious for getting in the heads of his opponents. Just saying things that would get them off of their game or thinking about it, which would give him an opening to end things.

"I won't need twenty minutes…"

"That's good… Because I'm sure it's down to nineteen by now." Shin responded and smiled while noticing the Zangoose sneer before charging him.

"Graaahh!" it yelled and took a swipe at Shin, missing due to him ducking out of the way.

Instead of retaliating against the Zangoose, he simply moved to the side. "If that's all you have to offer, just stop now." Shin taunted as he maneuvered around another strike.

"Stand still!" the Zangoose yelled while still swiping and missing horribly.

"You've managed to successfully waste three minutes of the twenty you were allowed, you think you can keep going?" Shin taunted.

"Onix, Dig!" a voice called out.

"What the hell?!" Shin yelled before feeling the ground beneath him give way and an Onix come tunneling upward and into him, sending him spiraling into the air and into a rock. "GAH!"

"Never lower your guard, Raichu!" another Rocket grunt called out before the whole group started laughing. While they were laughing, nobody noticed the scowl that the Zangoose had on it's face.

"You… bastards…" Shin stammered out while rising to his feet slowly, the impact from the Dig attack leaving him scarred and bleeding from a deep cut under his right eye.

"What? No more cocky taunts, Raichu?" the grunt that released the Onix shouted before laughing again.

Before Shin could say something back, he's hit with another Dig attack, this time coming from a Golem that another grunt had released.

The impact sent him flying through the air again, and slamming against the rock that Rei had been hiding behind.

"_Shin…" _she thought, wondering if she should try to help him. _"I can't sit here and let them demolish him like this!"_

"Alright, Zangoose…" it's trainer started, then looked around, only to see Zangoose sitting down next to the helicopter with it's eyes closed. "Zangoose! What the hell are you doing?! Get back over there and get that Raichu, now!"

"…"

"Do it our it's back to the chambers with you!" the grunt threatened.

"…Hmph…" Zangoose responded before charging Shin and delivering a powerful Shadow Claw.

"Ummf!" Shin grunted before hitting the ground again. From those three attacks, Shin was just a shadow of his former glory… His fur, mostly caked in blood now and cuts now covering his body almost from head to toe.

"Now let's hurry up and get him…" one of the grunts said before beginning to walk over to the fallen pokémon.

"No! Leave him alone!"

"The hell was that?"

"Me!" Rei yelled out as she stood in front of Shin's body.

"Rei… Move."

"Well, look at this. He had a little friend with him!" a grunt yelled before they broke out into laughter. "Onix, move her if you don't mind." he commanded his pokémon before it lunged at her and struck her with a slam attack, sending her sliding back a few feet.

"Ack!" she grunted before standing straight up again and beginning to walk back in front of Shin's body.

"No…"

"What?"

"I said no, you stay… back." Shin managed to say before slowly and wobbly rising to his feet, blood coming from his mouth.

"But Shin! You're in no-" she started before Shin spun around and shoved her backwards, causing her to stumble back.

"Shin!" she called out as she realized that she was going to roll back down the hill they had climbed up.

"Stay… away…" he told her, looking as her as she disappeared down the hill.

"Shiiiin!" she screamed as she slid from view.

"Didn't want your girlfriend to see your defeat?"

"No… I didn't… want her to see… what happens when Rocket grunts fail a mission… Hasn't… Hasn't it been eight minutes?" Shin told them, a smirk coming to his face slowly.

"Grr… Golem, end this!"

"Right on!" The Golem responded before rolling up into a ball and rolling to the weakened Raichu. After skidding to a halt in front of him, he uncurls and smirks at Shin. "You talk a good fight, but you ain't that great at backing it up." it told him before raising it's arm up to deliver the final blow.

As he raised his arm, Shin smiled and closed his eyes knowing that he'll be going back. But if he would be going back, he'd make them remembered the hardships they had to go through to bring him back.

"Dis…CHARGE!" he yelled out as an explosion of electrical energy flowed out from within him.

"Gah!" The golem gasped before taking a few steps back out of surprise.

Since it was an electric attack, the Golem and Onix were unaffected by it, but the grunts and Zangoose were being ravaged by it.

"S-s-stupid Raichuuuu!" one of the grunts yelled before falling over.

As the attack went on for a few more seconds, the helicopter got caught in it. By the time the attack ended, all electronic devices in it were fried. There was no way it would leave the ground anytime soon.

"Gah….hah….guh…" Shin laboriously breathed, his body racked from the punishment he had received and the toll that Discharge did. "Gio…Vanni… I… I'm on… my… way…" he stammered out before collapsing on the ground.

"Oh… man… Is everyone alright?" one of the grunts asks while slowly rising to his feet. The others were slowly starting to come to after being laid out for a few minutes and noticing that their Zangoose was still out.

"Ah, dammit! The Raichu fried the chopper!" the second one yelled after rising to his feet and regaining his balance. "How the hell are we supposed to join back up with the others now?!"

"Giovanni's gonna be pissed… Worse yet, he'll probably have us killed!" the first one commented, sounding scared. "Wait, doesn't one of us have a radio on them that's shock proof for situations like this?"

"Yeah, I think I have it…" the fourth one answered and reached into his jacket's pocket and pulled out a radio. "Unit One, come in, this is Unit Three…"

"This is Unit One, do you have Project Shin?" the voice responded.

"Thank god it's not the boss…" he thought, "Yeah, we have him. But there's a slight problem now.

"That problem being… what?"

"The Raichu fried everything in the chopper, it's inoperable. We'll need a chopper to come pick us up."

The radio then went silent for a few seconds, more than likely relaying the information to Giovanni and getting orders on what to tell them.

"Unit Three, you are to proceed to rendezvous point as instructed." the voiced told them.

"What?! But we don't have a chopper anymore! How're we supposed to-"

"You'll go the to damn rendezvous point like I told you to." Giovanni's voice chimed in on the radio.

"S-sir? But how will we get there?"

"I don't care how you do it, just do it!"

"Yes sir… Unit three out…" the grunt responded before turning off the radio.

"What the hell?! He wants us to walk?!" one grunt yelled out before calling Golem back and putting the poké ball. "What is wrong with him?!"

"I don't know… Let's just get going…"

"Let's ride on Onix, make things quicker and we don't have to walk."

"Good idea, I'll grab the Raichu." one of them said before pulling out a poké ball and recalled Zangoose, who still hadn't gotten up.

After a few minutes of figuring out where they all would sit, they ended up all on Onix, with Shin draped across Onix's head so they could all keep an eye on him in case he started to wake up.

"At the rate we're going, we should reach the rendezvous point by nightfall. Hopefully that'll be good enough because I don't know how in the hell we'll get there any sooner without a chopper." The first one on the Onix commented.

"As long as we get there, there shouldn't be any repercussions from the boss." the one that was second chimed in.

"You never know lately, Giovanni's been seeming obsessed with that target. SP-what-cha-ma-call-it."

"You're telling me, maybe we should've just ignored seeing this Raichu and kept on with the program. None of this would've happened, you know?" the fourth in line asked.

"Yeah, but it just seemed like a good way to get brownie points with the boss. You know, on the way to find his prime target, we capture a secondary target. It could've meant promotions for all of us!" the second one replied.

"Yeah but now it's looking like it could be demotions for all of us instead… Damn this sucks…" the first one told them before looking ahead. "If we didn't have to get there as soon as possible, I'd say we rest until morning since it's starting to get dark, but we can't…"

"Right, so let's just hurry up and get to the meeting spot and find out if we still have jobs… or lives…"

As they continue onward and nighttime begins to overtake the landscape. Rei finally has made it back up the hill that Shin sent her down. But, by then the Onix is out of sight and the only evidence left of them being here was the burnt helicopter with smoking billowing from it. She knew that Shin shoved her away because she was only going to get hurt… maybe even killed. But she just knew that there was something that she could've done to help…

"He should've let me help him!" she yelled to herself after making it to her feet after the climb. "Things might've gone differently if he had. He's so proud that he figures it's him against whoever."

After her tirade against Shin's stubbornness, she noticed a trail in the dirt that lead away in a straight line as far as she could see in the progressing darkness.

"This… looks like a trail an Onix would leave. Maybe…" she began to think, "Maybe they rode the Onix to where the other helicopters were going since Shin fried theirs."

A few minutes later, after thinking over the possibilities she decides to follow the trail and figure things out when she catches up to them. Hopefully she would think of something when the time came to act.

******

Night had, by now, fallen and the rockets were still riding on the Onix. They knew that if they didn't arrive soon, they'd be in a lot of trouble with Giovanni. But, just up ahead, the other's had landed and were setting things up for their landing area to be a field base. At the head of things was, of course, Giovanni himself.

"Sir, the base has been set up." a rocket told Giovanni who was looking at a computer screen at the time.

"Good."

"Sir, what are your orders now for us?"

"I want a constant search throughout this area. Leave nothing unexamined," Giovanni ordered. "01 is to be brought back alive. Those with her are of no concern. Have I made myself clear?"

"Yes sir!" the agents replied.

A few seconds later, a grunt guarding the perimeter notices movement in the distance.

"Sir, something's coming. It looks like an Onix!" he yelled to Giovanna who casually looked on.

"Don't worry, sir! It's just us, and we have Project Shin!" one of the grunts riding on the Onix called out as they came into view.

A few seconds later they made it to the base, when they went to dismount, they found out that they had become stiff from riding for so long on a pokémon made of rock.

"Ah… damn…" one of them sighed as he slid off then recalled his Onix after everyone had gotten off and taken Shin's body off who was still unconscious.

"Sir, here's the Raichu" the lead rocket of the four said to Giovanni as he stood in front of him with Shin over his shoulder. "Where do you want him?"

"Just throw him in the helicopter next to the cage where 01 will be put in and keep an eye on him. If he stirs, give him a sedative to knock him out." Giovanni told the grunt before returning to his previous business.

"Yes sir!" the grunt replied before taking Shin to the chopper and setting his body down next to the large container that was meant for Firefly.

All the while that was going on, Rei was still roughly a mile away on the trail. Truth be told, the Onix traveled faster than she did so she had lost ground on them.

"Aw man… This sucks… I hate traveling alone… At night… In unfamiliar territo-Wahh!" she yelled as she fell over. "The hell was that?" she asked before looking down to notice a Diglett staring at her.

"For cryin' out loud!"


	6. Altercation

I have to give a special thanks to my brother, Xtreme Gamer for lending his skills to the part of the voice in Shin's head. Whoever can figure out who the voice might be gets a shiny, new... Chocolate Chip Cookie!

**Altercation**

As the Rocket search parties began to fan out, two grunts were assigned the duty of keeping an eye on Shin's motionless body in Giovanni's helicopter. As the time continued to pass though, they both were growing tired of watching an unconscious Raichu.

"Man, why couldn't we be in one of the search parties?" One of them said to the other, "It's stupid to have us sitting here watching a pokémon sleep!"

"Hey, keep your voice down. If ya yell too loud, the boss'll here ya." The other told him.

"But it's not fair though…"

"You think I don't know that? I wanna be out there jus' as bad as you do, but I like havin' a job an' a life. So I'm willin' to be bored outta my mind if the boss calls for it."

"Ah, whatever…" the annoyed one responded before glancing at Shin's body.

The second one looks over to Shin's body and notices his tail twitch a few times, "The bastard must be havin' a dream or somethin"

"Why do you say that?"

"Look at all the twitchin' he's doin'. It's either a dream or shivers from being cold, and it ain't cold out here."

"Well, if he's dreaming. I wonder what he's dreaming of?"

******

Inside the mind of Shin, he was wondering if he had the amount of power and skill he originally thought he had, or if it was just false hopes and dreams that had been clouding his thoughts and actions this whole time. Could he take out Team Rocket, and eventually Giovanni? Was he really better off without being a Rocket? And the most important question of all that seemed to be racking his mind… Could he really stand up to that Ninetails?

The last question seemed to be a very difficult thought to wrap his mind around. Every time he began to think about that pokémon, a voice would begin to chime into his head. The voice would echo loudly off of the corners of his mind. He could hear the voice, and could make out all that it was saying and… it sounded so familiar. But it was as if he couldn't bring himself to respond, as if… he was beginning to believe it…

"It only took three shots to take me down… Do I deserve to even be thought of so highly by the Rockets" he began.

"_I would like to know why you think you should be thought highly of in the first place…"_

"What if I'm not what they had hoped?"

"_That wouldn't surprise me one bit…"_

"What if they decide to kill me instead of keep me around for future purposes?"

"_Why keep the weak instead of focusing on the strong?"_

"No, I _Am_ the ultimate… aren't I?"

"_Then why did I beat you so easily?"_

"All this time, and I could be… a sham?"

"_That's what you look like to me…"_

"What if… what if all that I think I am… Is just… a lie?"

"_It will be the first truth you've heard your entire life…"_

By now, his confidence and spirit were barely hanging on by a thread. The questions and the lingering voice in the back of his mind seemed to just gnaw and tear at him from the inside and work it's way out. Even questions that made no sense to even ask were beginning to scare him. Whether or not he was the real Project Shin, or if he was a replica. The answer was painfully obvious, but in his current state of mind, he just had no faith in the truth anymore.

After a few more minutes of self-doubt, a rage began to build up within him. Finally, he was tired of hearing the extra voice ring in after him. The hatred towards the Rockets and towards that Ninetails that had shamed him so bad finally had boiled over and caused him to break through the mental restraints that had been applied to him in his mind.

"Shutup! Shutup! SHUTUP!" he yelled to the voice before closing his eyes and relaxing his body.

"I am… who I say I am…" he began, his mind and wits coming back to him. "I'll show you… I'll show you all!" he yelled again before everything faded to black…

******

It took Rei an additional three hours run across the outskirts of Team Rocket's Field Base. She was, both, not as fast as Onix and had to make sure she was going the right way/stop to rest for a bit.

Now that she knew where they all were, she had a new problem. How in the world was she going to go about getting Shin out of there when there were so many guards in the area, not to mention she was pretty sure that their boss was there from the sounds of what the Grunts and Shin had said. Somehow… Somehow she just had to get in there and get him out… but how?

"There's gotta be a hole in their defenses, there's just gotta be." she told herself while surveying their layout from the safety of the branches of a tree. "Maybe if I just pester them, something will happen?"

She mulled over the idea of small attacks on different search parties just to get them a little riled up. Maybe if she did it enough, holes would begin to open up in their defenses and she would somehow be able to get in and get Shin out without getting herself caught in the process…

{A Couple Days Later}

Rei had decided to go through with her idea of periodic, random attacks on the Rockets. While she had to admit that some of them didn't go as well as she had hoped, which was made evident by the few cuts and scrapes she had on her body, she knew that something was happening. She could tell that the search party's numbers had grown by either one or two grunts each, meaning that there were less people at the base. She knew that somehow, she had to find the perfect spot today…

"Nothing's changed… I haven't done anything to make an opening for me to sneak in yet. And it's been two days." she told herself as she sat in a tree and peered through an opening in the leaves. "Something's gotta give today…"

******

At the field base, the two guards that had been watching Shin had decided to go on split duties. One would watch during the day and the other at night, the problem was deciding who would be the one to watch during the night…

"Why do I have to watch the Raichu during the night?" the younger one asked.

"Simple, I have seniority over ya." the older one responded with a smile on his face.

"Just because you're older than me doesn't mean a damn thing, we're both the same rank!"

"Age is the decidin' factor, so I'll watch'em today, and then you take over tonight."

"Tch, you ass…" the younger one conceded before walking away.

While they were arguing, neither of them noticed that Shin had started stirring. Slowly but surely he had started to awaken, at first just his tail would sway back and forth slightly. Now, his ears were twitching to the direction of the arguing grunts. As each second came and went, his senses were returning to him. Now, lastly, he opened his eyes and saw the cold, hard metal floor of the helicopter he had been thrown in.

"…So… they got me here…" he managed to stammer out as he slowly glanced around at what he could see. From where he was, he could see roughly 15 Team Rocket grunts and a few others that looked to be higher ranking agents.

While he was gazing at his surroundings, a figure came into view wearing dark colored suit, he also had short hair and appeared to be the one in charge from what Shin could tell.

"_Gi…Giovanni!" _he thought to himself. He knew he would see him here from what the four grunts had said before he blacked out, but… just actually seeing him made things different.

"You…You… Bastard…" he managed to say as he slowly pushed himself up to his feet. He still hadn't completely recovered from the fight earlier, but at this point in time, he didn't care either. All that mattered was getting his hands on Giovanni and making him pay.

"H-hey! The Raichu!" one of the grunts passing by the helicopter yelled out which caught the attention of the grunt that was supposed to be watching him.

"Oh hell…" he muttered before trying to find the needle he was instructed to use to subdue him. "Now, calm down little pokémon. This won't hurt at all" he told Shin while walking up and holding the needle.

"No… it won't hurt…" Shin started, his gaze shifting to him. "But this… this will." he told him before striking him in the top of the head with his tail harshly, rendering him unconscious and leaving a huge gash on his head.

After watching the actions in the helicopter, an agent runs across the base to where Giovanni was to tell him. "Sir! Sir!"

"This had better be good, because I'm growing very tired of bad news." he responded.

"Sir, I-I'm sorry. But the Raichu woke up and is creating a scene!"

"What?! How?!" he yelled, looking back towards where Shin was and noticing a pokémon leaving the helicopter shakily. "Grr… You all are completely pathetic! How things ever get done without me is a impossible to imagine." he told the grunt before pushing him aside.

"Sir, what do you want us to do?"

"I'm giving ALL of you five minutes to handle this. You had better get it done by then or else don't bother boarding the helicopters when we leave with 01."

"S-sir?"

"Get the hell out of my sight and take care of Project Shin!"

"Y-Yes sir!" the agent responds before making his way back over to where Shin was.

By now, four grunts had him surrounded and were holding pokéballs. Shin recognized one of them as the owner of that Onix that ambushed him earlier.

"So, is this going to be like last time?" Shin asked them. "Going to release one, and then when I'm not looking you're going to release the others to blindside me?"

"No, I'm just going to release mine, and then it's going to put you back under." the agent that had just been berated by Giovanni told him while walking closer to him. After taking a few more steps and then stopping a couple feet in front of Shin, he threw a pokéball. From out of the light came a normal-looking Ninetails.

"_Ni- Ninetails?!" _Shin thought in his head as his eyes went wide.

"Heh, you don't seem too tough now that you see what you're up against, huh?" the agent taunted, mistaking Shin's facial expression for fear.

Even though Shin could tell it wasn't THE Ninetails he had been after, it was just the thought of seeing one. The idea of running across a Ninetails, and the view before him sent him into a rage.

"Ninetails!!" he roared before lunging at the pokémon, his mouth open and his fangs showing as he tackled the pokémon to the ground. "You… You're mine!" he glared at the pokémon, rage filling his eyes.

"N-Ninetails!" The agent yells before running to aid his pokémon. He gets a few feet closer before being struck across the chest by the point of Shin's tail, causing him to stumble back and wince as blood begins to seep out of the open wound and gash in his uniform and chest. "Gah! Stupid Raichu!"

"Get off of me!" the Ninetails told Shin, frantically trying to shove the Raichu off before feeling a burning pain in it's left side. A quick glance told the tale, the tip of Shin's tail was jammed into it and beginning to slowly twist clockwise. "Ahhh!"

"Yes… Feel the pain that I felt, the humiliation that I went through when I was cast aside with one singular blow!" Shin began to tell the Ninetails as his tail burrowed deeper and deeper into it's side.

"P-Please… s-stop it… I… I don't know you…" the Ninetails pleaded to him, beginning to become very frightened by what was happening to it. "I'm just… a pokémon… doing my job…" she said before her eyes closed slowly and she faded away.

Seeing the Ninetails die by his hands sent a chill up Shin's spine, a feeling he had longed to feel, and looking around himself… he could feel over and over again…

"Who's next?" is all he said as the grunts slowly started to back away in utter fear for their lives as the enraged Raichu leapt off of the fallen pokémon's carcass.

Across the camp a grunt frantically ran to Giovanni to alert him of the problem with Shin.

"Sir! Sir! T-The Raichu!"

"You better be coming to tell me that it's taken care of…"

"N-no sir! It's killed one of our pokémon and severely wounded an agent!" he tells Giovanni before glancing over his shoulder to see a small explosion coming from where a line of computer were. "And it just took out one of our terminals!"

"Then get off of your ass and call back one of the search parties! And do _not _bother me _again_!" Giovanni yelled to him before pushing him aside.

"Y-yes sir!" the grunt answered before picking up a radio and trying to get one of the teams to answer.

***Out In The Fields***

"Man this searching sucks…"

"You're telling me, and we haven't found a damn thing yet."

"Hey… that's a huge rock up there." One of them points out to the others.

"Yeah, looks a little strange."

"Let's take a closer lo-"

"Atten… search par… Te… four…" a voice on the radio yelled.

"Man, what's going on? I can barely understand what he's saying"

"Yeah" the one with the radio responded before grabbing his radio and answering. "This is S.P. Four."

"Emerg… Proj…Shin… Retu….immedia…" is all they can make out.

"Roger, we are returning on the double!"

" Did that just say the Raichu got loose?!"

"Yeah, sounds like it. We gotta go, now!" he responded before jamming the radio back into his pocket and taking one last glance toward the clearing. "It's odd that a clearing like that would be here..." he said to himself before following the others in his group back to the main camp and noticing an explosion from the direction of the base.

"Oh my god…"


	7. Seperation

**Seperation**

As the search groups return to assist in handling Shin, the origin of the explosion becomes evident. At some point, Shin had gotten close enough to one of the helicopters and struck the gas tank with his tail. The hit made fuel spill outward and trail down the side of it. Shin saw what happened and he jumped away before hitting the stream of gas with an electric attack, igniting it and blowing the helicopter up and showering the area with parts and smoke.

While most of the grunts ran around trying to put out the fire that came from what was left of the helicopter, a couple continued to try and subdue Shin. It's just that neither of them had any idea as to how they'd do that. Meanwhile, Shin stood before them ready to lash out at someone or something again. The only thing stopping him was that he was realizing just how spent he really was after his recent actions and the three on one fight he had before being brought here. All of it was beginning to take a toll on him, and it was evident if you saw him. He still was covered in scrapes and cuts, and his breathing was beginning to labor slightly, something that one of the grunts noticed…

"Hey… he's worn out." he whispered to the other Rocket standing next to him. "Look at him, he's really sucking air."

"Yeah, you're right. Guess those attacks really took something out of him, huh?"

"Well that and when squad four brought him in they said they had all three of their pokémon have a shot at him. So I think he's going on nothing but adrenaline."

"Yeah, so we have a shot at him." the second one replied. "I say we both send out our pokémon at the same time to jump him. Two on one, you know?"

"Alright, what did you bring with you?"

"I got Donphan"

"Ok, ok. I have Roserade. You distract him with your Donphan and I'll get Roserade to either put him to sleep or stun him."

"Got it. Ok, let's go Donphan!" the grunt yelled out before releasing his Donphan in front of himself. "Donphan, distract that Raichu with Rollout."

"_Distract?… Tch…" _the pokémon thought to itself. "Alright" was it's response before curling into a ball and going after Shin.

As the Donphan closed in on Shin, he bounced into the air which caught Shin slightly off-guard. At the last second, Shin was able to duck to the side and only get nicked on the shoulder by the attack. He then spun around only to that the Donphan was nowhere to be seen, but he did see a Roserade smiling towards him and a green-ish haze surrounding him.

"No, dammit! Sleep Powder! How… how could I have… let them trick… me." he yelled out while feeling his eyelids get heavier. "Gi… Giovanni…" he stuttered out before taking a few steps towards the evil mastermind.

As he slowly stumbled and crawled his way to Giovanni, all the grunts and agents shuffled around him, not wanting to get near him, knowing he could still attack if they got too close. Finally, he was within yelling distance.

"Gi… ovanni…" Shin stammered out.

"…"

"Look at me… damn you!" he yelled at him but to no avail, Giovanni refused to acknowledge him.

"I will.. Kill-"

"For a rat you are very persistent, Project Shin…" Giovanni told him without turning to face him.

"Look… at… me" Shin told him one more time, struggling to stay awake.

"Why should I waste my time looking at a pathetic sight like you?"

"You… bastard…" he responded before finally drifting off to sleep.

"Finally… I thought he'd never go to sleep…" One of the grunts spoke up before walking forward with another to grab him.

That remark caused Giovanni to turn around and glare at all the grunts that were around them. "How in the hell did ten people that are employed by me let one pokémon do all of this?" he asked them.

"Um… he wa-"

"Shut your damn mouth this instant!" he snapped at them all. "Now, I'm going to trust you all one. Last. Time. Four of you take this Raichu back to headquarters and place him in one of the enclosures, I don't care which one just make sure you do it. I'm also assuming since he's incapacitated that you won't manage to screw this up."

"Y-yes sir! We won't fail you!" the agent that spoke up earlier announced before he motioned for his group of four grunts from Squad Three to pick up Shin's sleeping body and carry him back to their Helicopter for transport.

"If you manage to somehow screw this up… I will handle the disciplining myself, just like I did with the Gold Unit." Giovanni added as they hurried away.

"Ye… Yes sir." the agent responded before climbing in the helicopter and instructing the pilot to take off and where to go. "Take us back to headquarters." he told the pilot before sitting down in the co-pilot's seat.

"Roger" he responded before flipping the ignition switch, starting the rotors up.

******A few days later…******

After seeing the helicopter take off a few days ago, knowing that Shin was in it and not being able to do anything about it. Rei had spent the next few days wandering about, trying to figure out what she could, let alone, would do next.

Technically, she didn't see if Shin had been placed in the helicopter, but after seeing what all was happening and having to jump back in her tree to avoid being seen by the returning search parties, she knew that Shin was the cause for all of it. And she figured that the only reason a helicopter would take off now would be because they had gotten Shin again. That and everything had gotten quiet again, the only evidence that something had happened is the slight column of smoke still faintly rising from the wreckage of the blown-up helicopter.

_"What do I do now?"_ she asked herself, realizing now that she was all alone now. She had no clue where the Team Rocket headquarters were or whether or not that's indeed where they were headed. As far as she knew they were headed to some outpost that they had somewhere in the area. She was truly alone, and very close to hostile territory.

_"If I charge into the base, I'll just be captured… or worse… But if I don't, I'll never figure out where Shin was taken. There just has to be something I can do!"_ she thought to herself.

_"If only-_… Wait, what was that?" she asked herself while looking around and choosing to hide in a tree. "I heard a voice… where'd it come from?" she wondered as she looked around for movement around her but couldn't find anything.

"How do you think?"

"Your bandages are… does that mean?"

_"There they are again!"_ she thought to herself, thinking that she's going crazy and has started hearing things. Just as she was about to give up, she spotted an object come down from a perch or something and land on the ground. She squinted and was able to make out two pokemon. One was a winged Growlithe.

"Ok… that's a little bizarre, a Growlithe with wings." She started before remembering how Shin looked. "Well, he wasn't exactly normal either… So that at least means that the Growlithe was with Team Rocket once as well."

After glancing over the Growlithe, she looked to the other pokemon and saw that it was a winged Vulpix. Since she didn't know that the Ninetails that Shin had been hunting and the Vulpix she was staring at were one in the same, she didn't think much of it.

"_Hm, two pokemon that normally don't have wings… And they both have wings, can't be a coincidence."_ she thought as she continued to eavesdrop on them, trying to figure out what they were doing here.

"Yeah, my injuries are fully healed and my strength has returned. I'm finally back to my old self," the Vulpix told the Growlithe.

"That's great! Some of the best news I've heard lately! That means we can finally get moving again." the Growlithe responded happily from what she could tell.

"_Why would the Vulpix be injured?" _Rei wondered. _"If it has a Growlithe with it, then shouldn't it be hurt too? Or maybe… maybe they were split up for some reason…" _she continued before blinking a few times and asking herself why she's so worried about them.

"_This doesn't have a thing to do with me or trying to find a way to get to Shin!" _she yelled at herself. _"It's stupid to sit here and wonder what they're talking about." _

As she starts to slowly make her way down out of the tree, she notices the two pokemon take to the skies in an instant, "Where the hell?" she asked herself.

******At the Team Rocket Headquarters******

"Ah… my damn head…" Shin muttered to himself as he woke up and braced himself against a rock. "Where am I now?"

"You're in a Team Rocket enclosure." a voice answered

"You have to be kidding me… I'm here… again?"

"Yeah, you are Shin." the voice chimed in again.

"From the sounds of your voice, you sound like…" Shin started before turning to the sound of the voice and seeing a Zangoose. "Yeah, I thought so… Zan.

"Glad to know that you hadn't forgotten one of the main reasons you got out the first time, Shin"

"Yeah yeah, I know. You created a diversion that started it all, you don't have to keep harping on it." Shin told him while still shaking the cobwebs out of his head.

"Well, just to let you know. Things have changed quite a bit around here since you decided to go sightseeing. There are more guards around the doors and… well, everywhere to be honest."

"That's to be expected, after all they did have a breakout."

"Well, there are also some pokemon in this enclosure that have suffered thanks to you… And a lot of them aren't to fond of hearing your name."

"So?"

"Well, let me just put it this way…" Zan started before walking over to a wall and leaning back against it. "… If I hadn't been here and known it was you, you wouldn't be here talking to me."

"Is there a point to this little story of yours, Zan?" Shin asked before looking around and recognizing where he was, the same enclosure he was in last time…

"Yeah, the next time you go to get out of here. I'm coming with you this time."

"You could've came last time…"

"You said to stay here and you'd come back and get me last time if you recall."

"When's the last time you actually listened to me aside from that one time.?" Shin asked, a smirk coming to his face.

"Oh shut the hell up…" Zan replied before looking away and seeing a couple other pokemon peek around some rocks with snarls on their faces.

"So, how long have I been here?" he heard Shin say.

"Well, you were thrown in here two days ago and have been out since now. I don't know how long they kept you in the examining rooms."

"Tch… Guess I'll just have to wait things out until I see another opportunity to get the hell out of here again."

"Don't have to, from the looks of things they're preparing something for a new arrival."

"New arrival? You hear anything about what they might be bringing in?"

"Well, I've heard the codename 01 used a bit."

"…I heard that name used quite a bit before I was taken back… Seems like they were really close to capturing what they were looking for, guess we'll see in a bit what it was."

"Seems that way…"

"Shin!"

"Huh?" Shin answered before turning around and seeing a bone club flying straight for his head!


	8. Inclination

**Inclination**

As he stumbled back after being struck on the shoulder with the bone club, Shin looked up to see where it came from and became acquainted with the view of a black Marowak with a golden skull reaching up to grab the bone as the flew back to it.

"And just who the hell are you?" Shin asked him, a snarl crossing his face.

"That's not important right now, what's important is for me to make you pay for the death of my sister!" the Marowak replied.

"Your sister?"

"She was killed in the mayhem that you caused when you escaped a month ago, it's your fault she's not here!"

"Oh I see…" Shin started. "You're just a bitter family member who's looking to blame me just because you aren't capable of protecting someone you cared about… Right?"

"You shutup!"

"Struck a nerve, Marowak?"

"You're a bastard"

******In the Control Room for Enclosure Three******

"Sir!" the assistant watching the monitors called out. "We might have a problem."

The man in charge came over to scan the monitors, "What is it?"

"Well, it looks like one of the inhabitants… Looks to be a Marowak, is having a spat with the Raichu we recently released in the enclosure." the assistant told him before glancing up to him, "What should we do?"

"Heh, let'em go. That Raichu can handle itself." the supervisor replied before walking back to continue what he was doing.

"But sir, it's a Marowak!"

"Listen" he started before turning back to the assistant, "There's a reason Giovanni and all the higher ups call that Raichu, 'Project Shin' alright?"

"Project… Shin?"

******Back Inside Enclosure Three******

"If you want someone to blame aside from your own weak-ass self, then you can feel free to throw the blame on me." Shin replied, becoming slightly annoyed. "But if that's the road you want to go down, then I'll give you something to blame me for, Marowak"

"Then fight me, you egotistical son-of-a-bitch!" The Marowak yelled at him, his hand griping the club tightly as his eyes narrowed.

"Be careful what you wish for, kid." Shin told him leaning forward slightly and then charging the ground pokémon head-on.

"Alright, that's enough!" Zan yelled out and stood in between the charging Raichu and the enraged Marowak.

Instead of stopping, Shin sped around Zan by using agility and ended up using Iron Tail on the Marowak's hand that held the club, sending the weapon flying into a wall across the enclosure.

"Shin, that's enough already." Zan repeated.

"Zan, you should know by now. You don't control me, nobody does. And if this little kid wants to challenge me, he's got that challenge." Shin replied before back to the Marowak and grinning.

"Zan, get out of the way. This is between him and myself." the Marowak told him.

"You don't know what you're getting yourself into, Nite" Zan tried to reason with him.

"Zan this is my fight, let me handle him!"

"Yeah, Zan. It's the kid's fight, let him handle me" Shin mockingly added in.

"I'm going to hurt you…"

"You've done a fine job of it so far, Marowak… Or should I say 'Nite' hm?"

"Shutup!" Nite yelled at him before diving for him and coming up empty. "Gah! Where'd he go?!"

"I'm over here." Shin called to him from his left side, standing up about ten feet from him. "You realize that you don't stand a chance… There's no point."

"You shut your mouth!" Nite yelled before lunging once again at Shin with his hand drawn back for a mach punch. As he brought his fist forward, he hit nothing but a rock that was behind where Shin was. Upon making contact, the rock split down the middle.

"Dammit, stay and fight me!"

"As you wish…" Shin's voice rings out before Nite feels a searing pain in his back after being struck by Shin's Iron Tail attack, leaving a gash down his back at an angle.

"Gah!" Nite yelled out and stumbled forward onto the rock to brace himself.

"Shin, enough!" Zan called out, the anger in his voice rising. Deep down he knew that Nite was no match for Shin and that this wouldn't end very well.

"It'll be enough when this runt learns his lesson and gives up on his own accord, not yours Zan!" Shin yelled back.

"Nite, stop this!" Zan told him, "This won't solve anything, the only thing that'll happen because of this is you getting hurt!"

"Zan that's enough!" Shin told him, glaring towards the Zangoose. He then turned back to the wounded Marowak and started to slowly pace over to him. "You can end this, Nite…"

"…"

"I'm going to kill you with my next strike if you don't"

"…"

After a few more steps, Shin raises his tail in the air and it shines brightly and flashes to a silver-ish tint. "Last chance, Marowak"

"Nite, give it up already. Your sister wouldn't want you to die over her." Zan pleaded one last time.

After thinking for a few seconds, Nite finally realizes that Zan's right. His sister's spirit wouldn't ever forgive him for dying on account of her. Not to mention he felt that, if he died, that his sister's spirit would be burdened with his death.

"Stop… stop… I surrender…" Nite told Shin quietly.

"Glad you came around to the idea of living."

"I… I couldn't protect her, and the chaos that came with you escaping is the reason she died…" Nite told him, sobbing slightly. "I vowed on her behalf that I would get vengeance for her."

"I respect your dedication to a promise you made, but next time, make sure that upholding that dedication doesn't cost you your life…" Shin responded before walking off slowly to the other side of the enclosure.

After seeing Shin walk away, Zan comes over to Nite to check on him and make sure he's ok.

"Are you ok, Nite?"

"Yeah… I'm fine."

"Good…" Zan replies before slapping him behind the head.

"What was that slap for, Zan?!" Nite replied while staring at him.

"That was for getting into something that was way over your head after I told you not to!"

"Tch… Fine…"

"No it's not fine! The next time I tell you to do or not to do something you better listen to me. Or next time I'll let Shin finish what he started!" Zan yelled before walking off behind Shin to the other side of the enclosure.

For the month that Shin had been gone, Zan had become the unofficial leader of the pokémon in Enclosure 3, or as Zan had carved into the wall, 'Enclosur3'. All the pokémon looked up to him and depended on him to keep them safe from the test subjects that Team Rocket had started sending into all the different enclosures ever since Firefly's group had escaped. It seemed like they had been trying to create another one like her, but had failed so far. But lately, all the test subjects had stopped appearing. And now, Shin's return to Enclosur3. Plus, all the talk of '01' being sought after made all the pokémon believe that maybe Team Rocket had given up on creating a new one, and just decided to recapture the original.

With all the recent changes, including Shin coming back. Zan was beginning to worry that things were going to get a bit dicey over the next few days…

******In a Tree… Somewhere…******

"…What the hell is going on?" Rei asked herself as she saw a couple pokémon run out of that large rock she had been next to a few minutes earlier. "How are pokémon running out of a blasted rock?!" she thought as she rubbed her eyes to make sure she wasn't hallucinating.

The truth was, her eyes weren't playing tricks on her. Team Rocket had stumbled upon a group of pokémon that had been seeking refuge inside (what she thought was) a huge rock. It turns out that the rock was in fact a cave that had been camouflaged into looking like a rock.

"Those pokémon must've used some kinda power or something to cover up the opening." she started to say before seeing an Espeon run out of the cave to aid a Jigglypuff.

"That one probably did it, the Espeon… Man, that had to take a lot of strength to keep that cover up, that's gotta be one strong pokémon." Rei thought before noticing that this search group seemed different from the others… It was a little bigger and was more organized.

As she continued looking over the group of Rockets that were charging the cave, she noticed one of the members appeared to be in a suit, unlike the others who were in the normal outfits with red R's on their chests.

"That one… doesn't really fit in with the rest of them, but he does look to be like the one in charge of everything." she thought as she looked on as pokémon were released and the Team Rocket ambush was in full swing.

If Rei knew what Shin, Firefly and all of her friends knew. She would've known that the man in the suit leading this team was Giovanni himself.

After the search parties returned to subdue Shin, the group that came close to the rock informed him of their findings. Knowing what Firefly and her group's capabilities were, Giovanni had a feeling that the rock was in fact a cave and that the only reason it looked like a rock was because one of the pokémon in the group could put up illusions. And now, he was here to investigate for himself, and sure enough, the illusion was just that. And now that the group weren't paying attention to their surroundings, Giovanni and his larger group had been able to sneak up on them and initiate an ambush.

As Rei continued watching everything unfold before her, she watched as the Rocket's pokémon slowly started getting the upper-hand on the others. Soon the Espeon had gotten wrapped up thanks to a string shot from an Ariados and the other's were being blocked off by the other Rocket's pokémon.

"Things aren't looking too good right now for them. It looks like the Rockets are splitting them up and taking them down." Rei thought to herself as she slowly climbed down from the tree. "If things get any worse… I'm going in, I don't know them… But I do know Team Rocket, and they aren't any good kind of company."

Just as she positions herself to help them out, a flamethrower attacks rains from the sky out of nowhere and catches her and everyone in the fight off guard.

"What in the hell?" she asked aloud which was followed by a few shadow ball attacks. "Where's all this coming from?!" she yelled in her mind before looking up and seeing the Vulpix and the Growlithe from earlier come flying back to save the day.

"Great! The came back, looks like things will be fine now." Rei told herself as she continued watching all the actions before her.

After the grand entrance from the two pokémon, things seemed to come to a stand still. Then she noticed that the man in a suit stepped forward and the Vulpix seemed to know who he was.

"Hm, I wonder how the Vulpix knows who that is…" she wondered as she saw their conversation apparently turn sour. Soon the Vulpix lunged towards him but was cut off by an Ivysaur that nailed the charging pokémon with leach seed. Soon the attack took hold of the Vulpix and drained it's power completely, rendering the pokémon prone and on the ground with no defenses.

"Oh no…" Rei whispered before looking around to check her surroundings. After seeing that nobody had managed to sneak up on her, she took a deep breath and sighed gently before nodding her head.

"It's time…"


	9. Cooperation

**Cooperation**

After realizing that this was her opportunity to help them instead of just watching a possible massacre, Rei stepped from behind the rock she had positioned herself behind and began charging up a Solarbeam attack and aimed towards the Cloyster.

"C'mon… C'mon, hurry up…" she told herself while watching the Cloyster's moves.

"It's time to teach her a lesson! Hydro Pump!" one of the rockets ordered the Cloyster. Soon the Cloyster opened it's shell up and revealed its evil grin before opening its mouth. After a few seconds, the attack came billowing out and towards the fallen Vulpix.

"Ah hell!" Rei yelled out in her mind before firing the Solarbeam. As the light-green beam of energy shot across the field, it went just to the left of the Vulpix and met with the Hydro Pump attack. Seeing as Hydro Pump was water and Solarbeam was grass, it ripped right through it and continued onward until making heavy contact with the Cloyster and sending it sliding across the ground.

"Who fired that Solarbeam?!" the Growlithe asked. As if on cue, Rei jumped out from behind her rock and landed roughly ten feet from where he was.

"Who's that?" the Vulpix asked.

"Why don't you try fighting someone who can fight back!" Rei yelled at the Rockets as she made her way over to the Vulpix. Once reaching her, she used her large jaws to bite through the Leech Seed vines and free her from its grasp.

"You ok?" she asked the Vulpix before turning back to the grunts in front of her who had yet to do anything since her sudden appearance.

"Yes, I don't know who you are, but thank you." the Vulpix told her.

"Let's not worry about that now. We have bigger fish to fry before we can give thanks."

"Well now, I didn't know you had some backup hidden away," Giovanni commented before snapping his fingers and calling his Persian back to his side. Now that the Persian was gone, the Growlithe was quickly able to make his way to the side of the Vulpix.

"Are you okay, Firefly?" he asked her.

"_Firefly, huh?" _Rei thought as she overheard him.

"For the most part. I am a bit exhausted," she responded. "I guess that Leech Seed took more out of me than I thought it would."

"Looks that way," he agreed.

As he checked on Firefly's condition, Rei turned back to Giovanni.

"I don't know who you are, but from the looks of things… You look to be the one in charge here." she told him. "Now, where's Shin?"

"I'm assuming you mean Project Shin." he replied to her while folding his arms loosely across his chest.

"Tell me!" she yelled to him which ended up only getting a laugh out of him.

"He's exactly where he should be."

"Answer me!" she demanded and narrowed her eyes at him which he returned in kind.

"I answer to no one, especially not a Pokemon!" he told her sternly. His answer caused Rei to grit her teeth and ready herself to make a move at him.

"_If I could just get my hands on him…" _she thought to herself before she saw him turn back to Firefly.

"I've had enough of these distractions! Now, Firefly! You will either surrender to me or suffer the consequences! Which will it be?!" he demanded.

"_Wait for it…" _she thought then looked over her shoulder and saw the Growlithe step forward. _"Hm, looks like he has something in mind…"_

"She's not going anywhere with you!" he declared.

"_Wow." _she thought. _"He must really care for her to show that kind of emotion."_

"Very well…" Giovanni answered before turning his back to them.

"Kill them all! Leave none alive!" He ordered. With that command, the attacks resumed.

After the Rocket's re-released their pokémon onto the field, Rei looked back at the Growlithe and Vulpix and deduced that the Growlithe was going to protect her. So while he played defense, it was currently up to her to supply the offense.

"Tell me where Shin is, you bastard!" she yelled at Giovanni before lunging at him with a fist drawn back for Focus Punch. Before she was able to get too close a Houndoom came out of nowhere and tackled her to the ground.

"Where… where'd he come from?" she asked herself as she got up and shook her head before staring down a snarling Houndoom with it's trainer standing behind it. "You're gonna pay for that one." she told him before clenching her left fist.

Just as she was about to rush in, she remembered what Shin had told her about rushing in without thinking things through first. She then lowered her fist and waited for the Houndoom to make the first move, which it gladly did a few seconds later when it lunged at her. She ducked to the side and was able to get a solid Mach Punch in it's ribs. Which caused it to lose it's balance and go sliding across the dirt.

"C'mon, you can take-"

"Stop her! Do not let her get her strength back!" Giovanni's voice boomed across the area and caught her attention.

"What's he talking about?" she thought before looking back to the Growlithe and Vulpix and noticed that the Vulpix seemed to be using Moonlight while the Growlithe stood between her and a Persian. "Ohhh, I see." she thought before noticing that the Houndoom she had just knocked down was moving in next to the Persian to face the Growlithe.

"That's not happening." she told herself before taking off to help stand up against them. She ends up sliding to a stop shoulder-to-shoulder with the Growlithe.

"You won't be having all the fun here." she told him with a smirk.

"I don't know if I'd call it fun but I do appreciate the help," the Growlithe responded.

"Be careful. I don't want you two to get hurt because of me," Firefly told them. The Growlithe then turned to her and smiled.

"Trust me, the only one's that are going to get hurt are Giovanni and his Pokemon." he told her.

"That's Giovanni?" Rei asked him as she sized up the suited man standing in front of them. Now that she knew who he was and knew he was the head of Team Rocket, she tensed up a bit.

"Don't worry, we've dealt with him in the past. His pokémon are strong, but we're stronger," the Growlithe told her after sensing her tensing up.

After hearing his words of encouragement, she nods and turns to him. "The name's Rei by the-"

"Watch out, Indigo!" Firefly shouted. Looking up they both saw Giovanni's Persian lunging at them with a Night Slash attack.

"Not going to work!" Indigo yelled as he raised a Protect barrier just in time to block the attack, but the remaining pokémon began to launch attacks at them as well.

"Damn, I don't know how much longer this barrier will hold!" Indigo growled.

"I'm going out, it'll be easier to hold the barrier against half the attacks!" Rei yelled to him. She then charged out of the barrier and ended up tackling the Houndoom that was closing in to attempt to deliver a strike against the barrier.

Soon she found herself right back where she was before, staring at a Houndoom. The only problem was the fact that this time, either she was seeing double, or she was looking at two of them.

"Oh… damn…" she muttered to herself

"Come on! If we don't hurry up they're toast!" someone shouted. Then out of the corner of her eye she saw two more pokémon, a Jigglypuff and a second Vulpix come out of nowhere to help them.

She then heard two more pokémon yell out and come to their aid, this time it was a Charizard and a Pikachu. A few seconds later she saw a Sneasel come running as well.

"Where did all of you come from?" she asked them.

"Just call us the cavalry," the Jigglypuff answered her.

"We're making sure we all make it out of here alive!" The Charizard told her.

She then took time out to look back and forth at the Pokémon who stepped forward to help her. After a while she turned her attention back to the attacking Pokémon, and smiled.

"Well what're we waiting for?!" she yelled out before leading the charge. She was the first to launch an attack, striking the Houndoom with a powerful Mach Punch that knocked him to the ground.

"And stay down!" she shouted.

She then looked around and saw the others each taking on an opponent of their own. The Charizard was taking on the other Houndoom, the Pikachu was facing off against a Machamp, the Sneasel and the second Vulpix were teaming up against a pair of Gloom and the Jigglypuff stood front and center to take on Giovanni's Persian while the Growlithe looked on, his Protect barrier still up as he defended Firefly while she recovered.

"Come on, guys! Take them down!" he cheered while Firefly looked on, silently praying that they would be able to win.

"We can and will win this…" Rei thought as she dodged a Crunch attack from the Houndoom. She retaliated with another Mach Punch but missed and was bit on the shoulder.

"Gah…" she grunted before standing back and glancing at the others.

The Jigglypuff seemed to be handling the Persian pretty easily until it had to dodge an errant Flamethrower from the Houndoom the Charizard was trying to fend off.

"You ok over there, buddy?!" the Jigglypuff yelled to the Charizard.

"Just fine! This one's just being a bit stubborn!" he answered while he tried to douse the Houndoom with Hydro Pump. The hound jumped out of the way and smirked at him defiantly.

"Smirk while you can, dog-breath!" he yelled before firing off another Hydro Pump only to have the Houndoom avoid it as well. This time he followed the dodge was followed up by an attack. The Houndoom lunged at the Charizard, attempting to latch onto him with a Crunch attack.

While Rei was paying attention to the action around her, the Houndoom she was fighting took advantage of the opening and tackled her to the ground with a loud thud.

"Ah! Get off of me!" she yelled at it while dodging it's teeth as it kept attempting to bite at her and end up with nothing but dirt. After a few more seconds of struggling she was able to maneuver her large jaws around the pokémon and fling him a few feet from her so she could get up. The Houndoom landed hard and yelped correspondingly.

"Rei! You alright?!" she heard the Growlithe yell to her, she turned and nodded to him.

"Never better!" she answered before charging the Houndoom once more. "You're mine, Houndoom!"

Soon, all the battles began to turn in the favor of the good side. One by one all of Giovanni's forces started to fall by the wayside. Rei was able to take care of her Houndoom and help out the blue Charizard by flinging her Houndoom into his. The final blow was when the second Vulpix and the Sneasel delivered a devastating tag team attack on two Gloom.

"Well, they went down easy" the Sneasel commented.

"Figures, nothing could stand up to our Freezer Burn," the second Vulpix chimed in.

All that was left now was the Pikachu and his Rocket opponent, a Machamp who seemed to be giving him quite the fight.

"Heh, took care of them." Rei thought before glancing over to the Pikachu and Machamp in time to see quite the light show. Apparently the Pikachu was able to muster a powerful electric attack that stunned the Machamp just long enough to deliver a good Iron Tail to it's head, rendering it unconscious.

Soon, all of them had joined back up and began staring down Giovanni who had a snarl on his face.

"It's over, Giovanni! You don't have any pokémon strong enough to take us!" the Jigglypuff declared while Rei and everyone else stood alongside of him. While they stood strong, Giovanni began to smile.

"What's with that look you bastard?!" the Vulpix yelled.

"You may have the strength advantage, but in the end, the numbers game always wins out!" Giovanni replied before snapping his fingers. Afterwards, the number of Rocket pokémon on the battlefield doubled as the other Rockets threw out more poke balls.

"Oh come on! More?!" Rei cried out.

"Not only that, but the ones we just knocked down are getting back up!" the blue Charizard shouted.

As if on cue, everybody looked around to see that Aqua was right. All the pokémon that they had just taken care of were all rising back to their feet and joining the new arrivals which now dwarfed the small group Rei was a part of.

"What do we do now?!" the Pikachu asked.

"What else? Beat them all down!" the Jigglypuff declared. He then let out a loud battle cry as they all charged Team Rocket's pokémon again, determined not to let the numbers issue do them in…

******** Inside Enclosure 3 ********

"So, the vents open up at around 3 o'clock everyday… and then they close right back up two hours later." Shin said to Zan as they hatched out a plan.

"So, when they open, Glint will jam one of them to stay open and then we can see just where the duct leads to." Zan continued.

"Exactly."

"But who goes in the duct?"

"I'll go" a voice answers from behind them. When they spin around they find Nite looking at them.

"You?" Shin asked, not convinced in the least that the young Marowak could be trusted with such a task. "Why should I even consider letting you do this?"

"Just gimme a chance, alright?!" Nite pleaded.

"…Why are you wanting to help me now, when just after I woke up you wanted to kill me?"

"…"

"I'm waiting…"

"I have my reasons…" Nite answered before turning to Zan who nodded to him.

"He's got my approval, it's up to you though, Shin." Zan commented.

"…Fine, go ahead." Shin told him before turning his back to him. "But if you screw this up, don't bother coming out of those ducts as long as I'm in here."

"…Right."

"Alright, we'll wait until an hour from now when they open the vents up again to filter in fresh air. When that happens, we go." Shin orders them before turning to Glint.

"Glint, come over here. We need to talk." Shin told them all before walking over to a corner of the room while being followed by the Silver Scizor.

"Yes?"

"I don't completely trust that Marowak" Shin told him bluntly, "If he starts acting suspicious or anything while you have him in your sights in the duct, take him out."

"Yes sir." Glint answered before nodding and walking off.

On the other side of the enclosure, Nite and Zan were having a somewhat similar conversation about Shin…

"Zan, can we trust Shin?" Nite asked him while Shin was off talking with Glint.

"I don't know about you, since you did try and kill him recently. But I've known him for a while now, and while he may seem rough around the edges, he's ok in my book."

"Alright…"

"Hey, Nite. Why the sudden change of heart though?" Zan asked, now curious himself.

Before Nite answered, he sighed and looked down. "My sister wouldn't want me holding a grudge like that over her." he told him before smiling. "I can hear her voice in my head, telling me how dumb I am for hating someone for something they had no control over."

"Yeah, she kinda was a younger sister to all of us." Zan replied before patting his shoulder and walking off to meet up with Shin who had been looking deep in thought recently.

"Hey, what's on your mind?" he asked him.

"When I was out I met up with a Mawhile."

"Yeah, so?"

"I'm just curious as to how she's handling being on her own again."

"Listen to you, have you gotten soft on me while you were away?" Zan joked.

"Look who's talking, H and R Kiss n' Shit…"

"Well I've gotta be nice to keep everyone from going bananas and trying to kill everyone."

"Sure you do."

"There's Myself, You, Nite, Glint, Ro and Wren. If I don't play the part of the peacekeeper, half of the pokémon in here would've died already." Zan explains.

"What happens to them shouldn't be of any concern to you, Zan. It's their lives, let them waste them if they choose to do so."

"Shin, this hard-ass persona of yours has a way of ticking people off" Zan calls after him as Shin walks away.

"Why don't you try mentioning that to someone who gives a damn?" Shin responds before disappearing from sight.

_"God he can get under a pokémon's skin!"_ Zan yelled to himself before beginning to walk back to the group.


	10. Trepidation

**Trepidation**

"Alright, they just opened the vents." Shin pointed out. "Glint and Nite, get into your positions. Everyone else, keep a look out to make sure none of the Rockets know what's going on."

After the orders were given out, all the pokémon in the enclosure moved to their positions and awaited for the go ahead from Shin.

"…Go."

Suddenly the network of pokémon sprang into action. Glint picked Nite up under the arms and brought him to the vent covering. Nite gave it one good shot and part of it broke away leaving an opening just big enough for the Marowak to slide through.

"Can you make it?" Glint asked.

"Gimme a sec…" Nite responded before sliding slowly through. "Got it." he replied before continuing down the duct.

As he traveled down the air vent, Nite began to hear voices. He then noticed a vent opening down quite a ways and decided to check it out and see what the talk was about, maybe he could find out something valuable. He continued onward before stopping just shy of the vent and listening in on what was being said down below.

"So, someone with the boss just sent in a message saying that 01 will be caught soon."

"Really? Man, the boss is amazing in the field when he really wants something."

"You got that right, now let's start preparing Enclosure 3 for his arrival."

"Right, let's go."

"_Sounds like we'll be having another new arrival," _Nite thought before turning around to head back. _"01…"_

"He's coming back." Glint announced to everyone before flying closer to the vent opening and pulling Nite out.

"Did you find anything?" Zan called from down below as all the pokémon gathered around them when they landed.

"Well, I heard two Rocket guys talking in a room down a hallway."

"And?" Shin's voice calls out from behind him.

"Um, well they said something about their boss going out into the fields to get a pokémon himself. They said it's name was 01 or some number like that." Nite explained.

At the mention of the codename '01' Shin's eyes widen and a large grin begins to spread across his face.

"01?" he asked the Marowak.

"Yeah."

"They're bringing her here? You're sure?"

"Yeah, I heard them say that number."

"You heard of that pokémon, Shin?" Zan asked him which was met with silence. "Shin?" he called out before turning the Raichu and noticing the look on his face.

"Yes," Shin responded before motioning to Nite. "When did they say that pokémon would be here?"

"They didn't they just said that their boss would have the pokémon soon. So I'm guessing that they should bring the pokémon they're talking about by sometime tomorrow or the day after."

"…"

"Shin?" called Zan again as he walks to his side.

"Remember that battle I told you about?" Shin asked him.

"What, the one where you were with the Gold Unit?"

"Yeah, that one." Shin responds before slowly rubbing his paws together.

"Yeah, the one that you said you met up with this really powerful pokémon in the battle that you had with a group of escapees." Zan explains.

"The pokémon that they call '01' was the one that wiped out the whole unit." Shin told him, a look of disgust in his eyes.

"That's the Ninetails that wiped you and your unit out?!" Zan yelled out which caught everyone else's attention. "That's the pokémon you said can evolve and de-evolve on command?" he asked after quieting down a bit.

"Yeah, according to what a Raticate told me. She's normally a Vulpix until she gets really angry." He explains before going into detail. "She was in here at one point and I'm guessing Giovanni tampered with her like he did to us. I'm not sure though, but whenever she gets angry enough, she transforms."

"Wow… and that pokémon is coming here…" Zan thought out loud, "I'd like to meet the pokémon that took out Shi-"

Before he can finish, Shin slams him against a wall which spooks everyone and alarms Ro and Nite.

"The minute she steps foot in here I will Kill her! There will be no pleasantries exchanged!" Shin yelled at him, his eyes filled with pent up frustration and rage.

"Shin! Calm down!" Zan yelled back, trying to get him to calm down.

Soon afterwards, Shin begins to calm down and lets Zan go before turning his back to him and facing the others.

"Um, everything alright?" Ro asked from ten feet away. She had taken a few steps towards them once Shin had Zan pinned to the wall.

"We're fine, Ro." Zan told her before clearing his throat. "Shin's just a little… worked up."

"Worked up… My ass." Ro replied which garnered Shin's attention as he turned his gaze to him.

"You have a problem, Lucario?" he asked Ro.

"I just don't like the way you're bullying everybody around is all, Shin." he replied a little nervously.

"If you don't like it, then just do something about it."

"Maybe I will." Ro replied, suddenly feeling a bit confident.

"Make your move then…"

"Stop it already!" Zan yelled before stepping between them. "This is going too far, Shin. Ever since you got here you've been picking on all of us here and trying to start fights but that shit ends right here and now!"

The outburst from Zan caught Shin off-guard. He didn't expect Zan to stand up to him so firmly like that. On one hand it pissed him off, but on the other hand… He respected Zan because of it.

"Alright then. Fine, I'll lay off of them." Shin agreed which also caught Zan off-guard.

"W-what?"

"I said I'll lay off of your guys." Shin repeated before walking off.

"That was… easier than I thought it would be."

"Why didn't you let me fight him, Zan?" Ro asked.

"Ro, he could've killed you without breaking a sweat. I've seen him fight, he's no joke." Zan explained, "He may not be the strongest, but he's crafty…"

"Seriously?" Nite asked, now interested in the conversation.

"C'mon guys, you can look at him and see that fighting him wouldn't be any laughing matter."

"But he's just a Raichu, Zan…" Ro bluntly added.

"You know what, if you want to test him, go right on ahead. I'll just sit back and watch the fireworks." he told Ro before throwing his hands up in defeat and walking off.

Hearing those words from Zan made Ro believe that maybe Zan wasn't exaggerating. Maybe this Raichu wasn't someone to mess with. After thinking things over for a few seconds in his mind, he decided that it might be in his best interest to steer clear of fighting with Shin.

******Post-fight******

"Oh my god, she's…" Rei thought to herself after hearing Firefly give herself up for the safety of her family and friends. When all of her friends and family began to gather around her, Rei chose to stand back and let them say their goodbyes. She wanted to fight on instead of watching someone surrender themselves, but she understood and knew that she had no say in the matter since these weren't her mates.

"This reminds me… of that day…" she began to think. The day she was referring to was the day that those two trainers took away her family. In a way she felt that the same thing was happening here, and it was beginning to bring her to tears since she was now seeing things from a different angle. And in her eyes, this angle wasn't any better…

She watched as, what looked like baby pokémon came up with tear-filled eyes. She couldn't make out what they were saying completely, but she didn't have to. She knew that they were wondering what was wrong and that they were going to be completely heartbroken and possibly unable to fully grasp the situation at hand.

"I… I can't watch this…" she said aloud, not really paying attention or caring whether someone heard her as she spun on her heels and hurried away. She ended up settling on a rock next to a tree roughly 20 feet away from Firefly's group. She had started to cry over the situation and the fact that, to her, it felt like déjà vu and there was nothing she could do to keep it from happening to those baby pokémon like it did to her…

"Wait… I can… I can stop this." She told herself as she raised her head and gazed back to all of them as they continued saying their goodbyes.

"_This isn't right. She… they don't deserve to go through this… and it's all because of him…"_ She glared at Giovanni. If looks could kill the leader of Team Rocket would have been dead ten times over by now with the look Rei was giving him.

"_I won't let him do to them what those trainers did to me!"_ With a loud yell she lunged at Giovanni.

"Stop that Mawile, Machamp!" one of the Rockets ordered. Before Rei could get close enough to strike Giovanni the Machamp cut her off and struck her down with a devastating Cross Chop, knocking the Steel type to the ground.

"Gah!"

"Rei!" Indigo shouted. By the time the others looked the Machamp was preparing to deliver the finishing blow.

"Leave her alone!" the Growlithe barked. He took flight and hit the Machamp with Extremespeed, knocking him away from the Mawile.

"You'll pay for that!" the Rocket declared. "Machamp, use…"

"Stop!" All eyes were on Firefly after her outburst.

"You've got what you want, there's no need to keep fighting," Firefly said. Giovanni looked at her.

"And why should I stop after that Mawile tried to attack me?" he questioned.

"Because if you don't… I'll make sure you pay for it," she warned.

"And what makes you think you'll be able to harm me? Or have you forgotten all the Pokémon I have at my disposal?" he said. To reinforce his point all of the Rocket's Pokémon let out growls.

"What makes you think they'll be able to stop me?" Firefly questioned. "Especially if I happen to call on… a certain someone…"

"You wouldn't dare," Giovanni said.

"You want to try me?" Firefly challenged. The two of them were locked in an intense stare-down where the first to blink would be at a disadvantage. After a few seconds Giovanni spoke up.

"Recall the Pokémon," he announced.

"Excuse me?" a Rocket asked.

"I said recall the Pokémon!" Giovanni yelled. No one else questioned him as they recalled all their Pokémon. Soon, only Giovanni's Persian was left as the only Rocket Pokémon on the field. Firefly let out a sigh of relief.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

"I'll… be fine," the Mawile replied. She looked up at Firefly and saw her smiling back at her.

"I'm glad you're okay," Firefly said. Rei managed to smile, but there was a bit of sadness behind it.

"Thanks, but you're the one that I'm worried about," Rei told her. "I just… I don't think it's fair that you have to give yourself up to him."

"I appreciate your concern, but I'm not the one anyone should be worrying about," Firefly explained.

"If not you, then who?" Rei asked, not really understanding what she was referring to.

"If you need to be concerned about anyone it's the three of them," she answered after turning to look at the three baby pokémon standing next to them with tears streaming down their eyes.

"They need as many positive influences in their young lives as possible." Rei looked at the three young Pokémon. Though she originally had no intention of getting involved in their lives, she couldn't turn a blind eye to them.

"I've… felt the pain of being torn away from loved ones. I couldn't stand the thought of sitting by and watching it unfold again without doing anything to stop it…" As Firefly listened she could feel the pain in Rei's voice.

"Rei, right?" Firefly asked, getting a nod from her. "I have… a request."

"Um ok," Rei responded.

"Would you please… help look after the young ones in my absence," Firefly asked. "I know the others can raise them while I'm gone, but…"

"Don't worry, you don't need to say anything else. I'll be happy to help look after them until you come back," Rei said.

"Thank you," Firefly said.

Rei nodded to her before turning and walking away to let them say their goodbyes. In truth, she couldn't stand with them and hear what was being said because it would only serve as a reminder of what happened to her and her family. So she chose to stand back at the mouth of the cave and await what was about to transpire.

"_Wait, Shin!" _She yelled to herself and spun around on her heels, ready to try to get his location out of Giovanni once more.

Before opening her mouth though, she thought about the fact that she had nothing to get him to say anything… And that it wouldn't help matters to get into another yelling match while Firefly and her friends were saying goodbye.


	11. The Renegade is Awakened

**The Renegade is Awakened**

While the group of friends and family gathered to discuss what should be done next, Rei continued to stand off at a distance, wondering where she could go. She had no clue where the Giovanni was headed with Firefly, but she knew that where they ended up, that's where Shin was.

"_I know that they're going to go after Firefly eventually, but I just don't know when that's going to happen,"_ she thought. _"I can't sit here with them and wait for them to decide to go. I understand about their concern for the babies and maybe not wanting to push them too hard or put them in danger, but I can't bear to sit around and wait." _

Before long, she decided that she should ask them if they knew where the base was so she could go…

"I've decided on our next course of action," he said.

"That sounds good to me," Shadow said. "So, what have you decided?"

"If it's all the same to you I'd like to let everyone know at the same time," Indigo said.

"_This sounds like it could be something I might wanna hear…" _She thought as she slowly began to walk back to the group as they all gathered around the Growlithe.

"So, we heard you decided what we're to do next," Pearl announced.

"That I have," Indigo responded. "Once everyone is physically able to we're leaving."

"Well that's all well and good, but where are we going?" Rusty questioned. Indigo looked his way, a determined look in his eyes.

"I'm pretty sure you already know," he answered.

"Wait… are you trying to say…"

"That's right. We're going to go get Firefly back!" he shouted which got a rousing ovation from everyone else.

After hearing what they decided on, Rei's heart skipped a beat.

"_I won't have to travel alone now!" _she told herself which caused her to smile. She quickly hurried over to Indigo to ask him if she could come with them instead of travel alone.

"Indigo?"

"What's on your mind, Rei?" he replied.

"You're going after her, right?"

"We all are,"

"Do you have any idea where he took her?" she asked, hoping that he did.

"I know exactly where he took her," Indigo said. "The only place he'd take her would be their main HQ in the Ichis Region."

"In Ichis?! But that's hundreds of miles away!" she yelled.

"It doesn't matter. For her I'd travel half way around the world. There isn't anything I wouldn't do and anyone I would go through for her," Indigo replied.

After hearing him, and noticing his tone of voice. She was beginning to get the feeling that he would do anything for her. Truthfully… it made her wonder if Shin would do the same…

"Is… Is it alright if I come with you," she asked.

"Sure, but why? It's not that I don't want you to come along. It's just that… I didn't think you had a reason to."

"I do," Rei replied. "There's someone he took that I have to rescue."

"I see… in that case we'll help you get them out."

"Thank you, Indigo…" Rei said. Indigo smiled and nodded to her before addressing the rest of the group.

"Okay, everyone. Let's get some rest. We'll need all the energy we can get for the what's ahead." Indigo announced to everyone who agreed and began making their way back towards the cave to have a long rest because they all knew that they'd need it now for what lies ahead.

******Inside Enclosure 3******

It had been two days since the initial sneak into the vents and Nite had been able to find out much more in his next trips. He had learned that Team Rocket had decided to put Firefly in the same section of the compound as they were, just not in the same Enclosure. He had also learned that just recently, Giovanni had arrived with the Vulpix and was in the beginning stages of sending her to her destination.

Since finding out that Firefly was coming there, Shin had been thinking about just that and just how he would reach her once she was locked away in her enclosure. And now, after two days of thinking, he still had absolutely no clue. The vents didn't go from enclosure to enclosure, so he couldn't travel along there to get into the one she was going to be in. And it was impossible to go through the walls.

"Hey Shin!" Zan called out to him from the door.

"What is it?"

"I think they just put a pokémon into one of the nearby enclosure's," Zan said.

"If you want your shot at 01, then just say it…" a booming voice announced over the speaker system set up in the Enclosure which caught everyone by surprise.

"Who's there?!" Shin yelled out while looking at one of the speakers on the wall closest to him.

"Answer the question… Project Shin." the voice mockingly said. After hearing that sentence, Shin knew exactly who that voice belonged to…

"Giovanni…"

"Just how bad do you want her?" he asked Shin. "Would you kill to get a chance to fight her?"

"I would kill you without a second thought, you piece of sh-"

"I bet you would…" Giovanni cut him off. "Listen well, I have a proposition for you, 03."

"03?" Shin asked, not knowing what he was talking about.

"I've decided to refer to you as that since I already have both a 01 and a 02, I might as well have a… Well… Lower ranked subject, therefore, you are now 03."

"One day, Giovanni… One day you and I will meet face to face with nothing between us except air and opportunity." Shin declared, his blood beginning to boil.

"By the sounds of it, you don't want to have a chance to fight her. In that case I'll give that opportunity to someone else" Giovanni responded and the speaker went silent.

"Wait!"

"Shin, you can't be serious!" Zan asked him under his breath. "You're seriously going to take Giovanni up on his offer?!"

"Firefly embarrassed me when I was a part of the Gold Unit…" he began. "And now that I have a chance to repay her… you want me to pass on it?"

"Can't you see that Giovanni's just using this as bate?" Zan pleaded, "He's going to use you to test out Firefly's capabili-"

"Shut up, Zan!" Shin yelled before striking him across the cheek with a Mach Punch.

"Gah, Shin! What's wrong with you?!"

"Seeing that pokémon suffer for what she put me through is all that matters to me, I don't give a damn as to how I have to go about making her pay!"

"Geez Shin, calm down…" Ro commented which drew the ire of Shin.

"You no nothing of what's happened to me, so you'd be best to keep your half-witted comments to yourself."

"Why don't you make me?" Ro taunted

"Ro…"

"No, Zan. I'm tired of having to walk on eggshells around this egomaniac." he declared to all who listened. "All this bossing around stops now."

"That could be arranged…" Giovanni's voice announces over the speakers.

"Giovanni, whatever it takes… Give me Firefly!" Shin yelled, not really caring about the consequences.

"I'm so happy that you've decided to cooperate… I trust that you remember the arena?" Giovanni asked.

"Yes, what of it?"

"If you can survive, you get what you want…"

"That's it?" Shin asked, believing it to be too easy, "There has to be more to this that you aren't telling me."

"I never told you how many you'd have to survive." Giovanni revealed to him before cutting the speakers off, leaving the enclosure silent once more.

"So you're just willing to lend your services to that bastard just so you can exact your revenge?" Nite asked Shin, hoping that he was wrong. In truth, everybody looked on as if they were wondering the same thing, or if Shin had some ulterior motive to bust out of here when given a little opening. All were wondering this… except Zan. And since he wasn't interested in hearing the explanation, he just simply snorted and walked off.

"Let me guess… You're all hoping and thinking that there's some plan behind this, aren't you?" he started which got all of them nodding. "Well there is no plan, there is no ulterior motive and there are no tricks. I told all of you what I wanted… And now I get it…" he finished before walking off, just as Zan had done.

************************************************************************

After a couple hours had passed, a guard came to the door of Enclosure 3 and opened the eye hatch to see in.

"03! You're needed in the arena, now." he ordered before unlocking the door.

Once Shin heard the call, a smile spread across his face before rising to his feet and making his way to the door amidst glares from all the other pokémon.

"I can't believe you, Shin…" Zan called after him as Shin had reached the door and watched it open.

"Believe whatever you want, Zan. I'm getting what I wanted by any means necessary, just like I said I would." Shin answered before walking out and having the door get shut behind him.

Once through the doorway, he entered into a window-less corridor that lead straight to the arena and straight back to the Enclosure. He knew from past experience that each of the five Enclosures in each area all had a corridor leading to the arena like this and all pokémon that were to fight would come this way unless instructed otherwise for special occasions. Unlike the last time he walked this long, straight corridor, this time there were no thoughts of trying to find a way to sneak out. The only thing on his mind was demolishing his victim that Giovanni had grown tired of having around and felt generous enough to feed him figuratively, to Shin.

Soon, he came upon the door that would open to the arena's battlegrounds. A place that he had seen many times before when he was held captive here the first time…

As the door opened he saw the familiar surroundings, the retractable roof, the terrain that was meant to mimic a real battleground. He also knew that Giovanni was watching from high up behind glass.

"Well, where's the victim?" Shin wondered as he looked around for his opponent, not seeing a trace of anyone being in there, aside from himself.

"03, meet your opponent." Giovanni's voiced boomed over the speakers. "Enjoy…"

"Tch, overly-dramatic bastard…" Shin muttered under his breath before he heard the door opening on the opposite side of the arena.

As the door slowly opened, Shin came face to face with his first opponent.

"…Shit…"

From behind the door, a Steelix was revealed.

"How cliché" Shin commented as the large, steel serpent-like pokémon made it's way over to him and looked down upon him

"This is will be fun" The Steelix taunted, his voice low and rough to the point where it felt like it shook the ground beneath them.

"Well, let's get this over with." Shin told the Steelix clenching his fists.

"You think you can stand up to me, little guy?"

"No, I don't…" Shin started before his fists began to be engulfed by a white light, signaling that at least one Mach Punch was coming. "It's hard to stand up to something that's laying on it's back."

"Heh, cocky aren't you?"

"It can't be called cocky if it's the truth, now are we going to fight or have conversation?"

After the last comment, the expression on the face of the Steelix changed from a smile to a snarl as he dove for Shin. "Grah!" it yelled as it's large body lunged across the battlefield.

Before it got too close, Shin dove out of the way and watched the large, steel snake slide to a stop and turn back towards him.

"If you really want to win, you're going to need to try…" Shin taunted which frustrated the Steelix a bit more and he lunged once more towards Shin, the only difference was that Shin was hoping this would happen.

As the Steelix closed in, Shin kicked a mound of dirt into the large pokémon's eyes before darting out of the way. The Steelix, temporarily blinded raised up and began shaking his head furiously as it tried to get it's vision back in order.

"Damn, little rat!" it yelled out in frustration as it looked around, vision still blurry. Soon he spotted Shin… and then another Shin… and another and another and another. "What the hell?"

"It's called Double Team, halfwit…"

"Stop playing tricks and fight me!"

"If you weren't so blind, you'd notice that in reality… this fight is already over."

"What're you getting at, rat?!" the Steelix demanded as his vision finally returned to normal and began looking back and forth at all the Raichu around him before feeling something on top of his head. "What the?"

"Too slow…" Shin told him as he swiftly jabbed the point of his tail into the left eye of the Steelix, sending blood spraying all over the larger pokémon's face and Shin's tail.

"You bastard!" the Steelix yelled out as it thrashed around, trying to cope with the pain and get the Raichu off of it's head. "Get off me!" he continued to yell while he swung his head around, crashing into rocks and sending debris all over the place.

"You were nothing but a mere stepping stone on my quest to redemption, be glad that I didn't choose to make you suffer any longer than I have."

"Go to hell!"

"I have a better idea…" Shin replied before glancing up to the direction Giovanni was watching from, and a wicked grin slowly crept across Shin's face before quickly turning back to his opponent.

"Discharge!!"

_Ok, just as in my brother's Firefly story. If you want a pokemon to be put into this story, just drop a message in my inbox and give details on the character. Also, if anyone's interested in seeing visual representations of the pokemon both in this story and in the Firefly story, I've made custom sprites depicting each character from both stories. If you want to see them, once again, all you have to do is ask!_


	12. A Being of Despair

**A Being of Despair**

"Very good, you may leave" a voice told Shin over the speakers. He could tell that it wasn't Giovanni, and it bothered him. He knew that if Giovanni wasn't telling him that he could leave, that something else interested him more than what just happened in the arena.

_"He still mocks me, without even trying…"_ he thought to himself, and that thought brought a snarl to his lips as he jumped off of the now-fallen Steelix and went to the exit door.

After walking through the door, it closes behind him and he stops to glance back at it. For some strange reason he was tempted to at least attempt to break it down, but he decided not to and to just go back to Enclosure 3. As he continued down the corridor, he noticed that blood was trailing behind him from his tail. The sight caused him to smirk to himself as he finally found himself at the door to the Enclosure…

* * *

"Man, how far away is this place?!" Rei cried out which got a chuckle from Aqua.

"We told you that it was a really far off place, didn't we?" Rusty replied

"But c'mon, guys. It's been over a week and there's no sign of it."

"You don't travel much, do you Rei?" Rubic asked while giggling.

"Wait until the terrain gets rough, Rei." Aqua chimed in.

"Craaap!" Rei moaned as they continued walking.

Even though Rei was moaning about the trip, she knew that in the end it would all be worth it and that she couldn't do this alone. She needed to travel with them for multiple reasons, but aside from all of that… She missed traveling with a group of pokémon who were all upbeat and playful around each other. Sure traveling with Shin was enjoyable… but he was so cold towards everything, including her. On the other hand, Indigo and this group were all very caring and looked after each other, including herself, as if they were all related to each other.

"It's just like when I was with my family…" she thought to herself, which brought a smile to her face which was thoroughly taken away once Eve saw the smile.

"Thinking about someone, Rei?" she asked which brought Rei back to reality rather harshly.

"Huh, what?!" she half-shrieked.

"Heh, must be!" Rusty added with a chuckle, "Look how red her face is getting!" he pointed out which everyone then noticed.

"Shut up, Rusty!" Rei squeeked before trying to cover her face up. "I'm not thinking about anyone!"

"Sure, sure" he replied, still smiling as he playfully nudged Rei as they kept on walking.

* * *

"03... Why did you leave the arena?" Giovanni's voice echoed down the corridor as the arena's door re-opened.

"My fight's over with…"

"Yes, your first one is. But as I recall it, you had a few fights ahead of you if you wanted to get what you wanted." Giovanni told him. Shin could just feel the smugness in his voice.

With nothing that could be done, Shin turned back to the arena and strode back to the doorway. Once entering he found himself face to face with something he did not expect in the least.

"It… can't be…" he stammered out as he looked forward to a winged Vulpix. He could feel his body tensing up as the pokémon stared at him. "No… you're not her…" he realized before looking up in the direction Giovanni was.

"Ah, I see you noticed." Giovanni responded with a laugh. "This isn't 01, as a matter of fact. This pokémon was created from her."

"You… cloned her?"

"Yes, my scientists tried to create a specimen that would top 01, but they failed. What you see before you is just a …. well, you could say a fragment." he explained.

"A… fragment?"

"Yes, this one has some of the traits and abilities that 01 has."

"So, let me guess. I'm your trash disposal?" Shin asked, "You made all of these failures and now you need a way to get rid of them, right?"

"Good for you, 03." Giovanni mockingly replied, "If I had some poffin with me, I'd happily toss it down to you…" he continued before laughing and cutting off the microphone.

As he turned back to the pokémon before him, he noticed that the look on it's face was not one of confidence, or one eager to fight. But rather, one of sorrow.

"Please… Kill me…" it said to him.

"W-what?" he responded, clearly caught off-guard by what it said.

"I'm tired of being like this…" it continued, "It hurts…"

"You want to die?"

"My body… it hurts everyday… When they created me, something… must've went wrong." the pokémon continued, from the sound of it's voice it seemed to be a female.

"So, you won't fight back?" Shin asked.

"Why?" she responded, "So I can spend more days in constant pain, wondering when someone will finally end my misery?" she asked, her voice straining slightly as a tear fell from the corner of her eye.

Shin took a closer look, to try and see if he could believe what this pokémon was saying. When he took a long look, he saw the sorrow in her eyes, begging for release from her pained existence.

Before long, Shin sighs and closes his eyes before nodding to the pokémon.

"I don't like doing favors for others… But nobody deserves to go through what you've been through." he told her. "I'll let you rest…"

After hearing him speak, a spark seemed to return to the Vulpix as she brightened up and forced herself to smile.

"Thank you… Thank you, so much."

With that being said, Shin walked up to the suffering pokémon and looked it in the eyes. As if saying she was ready, she nodded to him and immediately felt the tip of Shin's tail pierce her chest and find it's way to her heart.

"Gah!" she yelped before slowly beginning to slump to the floor.

As she laid out on the floor and blood began to seep from the wound, Shin pulled his tail out and watched as she slowly began to fade.

"Th-thank… you…" she muttered to him before her eyes closed and her shallow and erratic breathing came to a halt.

"… Giovanni…"Shin muttered under his breath before looking up in his direction again.

"Sir, was that supposed to happen?" one of the scientists asked Giovanni.

"Yes, it went perfectly according to my plan…"

"But… that was a bit of a waste, wasn't it?" he asked, not understanding what Giovanni's plan was. The question struck a nerve and Giovanni turned to him with a snarl.

"Are you questioning me?"

"No sir!"

"Good…" Giovanni responded before turning back to the arena and motioning for an arena attendant to make the announcement.

"03, you may leave and return to your enclosure until called for again." he announced over the speakers. Once he heard the voice tell him he could leave, Shin turned to the door and made his way out, taking a few seconds to glance behind him as the doors closed so he could take another look at the motionless body on the ground and sigh before shaking his head and continuing back to the enclosure.

"Hey, Shin's back." Nite called out from his spot in a corner as Shin came through the doorway.

"Enjoy your job?" Zan asked, not moving from his spot.

"I'm talking to you."

""What do you want me to say?" Shin responded, not in the mood to talk after experiencing that last battle.

"Nothing, I guess. Or maybe explain to me how much you're enjoying being Giovanni's hired gun."

"I told you the answer to that already."

"Maybe I wasn't satisfied with the way you answered it?" Zan replied as he got up, clearly getting annoyed.

"That's too bad."

"Well, well, well… Seems like we have a little tension brewing amongst our enclosure." a voice echoes called out from the doorway. "I wonder what the boss would have to say about this one?"

"Why don't you get off your ass and do your job?" Shin commented.

"You better watch yourself, Raichu."

"Or what, you'll call Giovanni and tell him that the mean Raichu is hurting your feelings?"

"No, I'll make sure you enjoy your next trip to the arena." the grunt told him, suddenly sounding like he had the bull by the horns when it came to this argument.

"I'm sure you will." Shin responded, obviously not feeling like this Grunt could do anything he needed to worry about.

"Wonder what he meant by that?" Nite wondered out loud.

"Doesn't matter." Shin declared.

"Agreed…" Zan chimed in.

Whether either of them wanted to admit it or not, at this point in time they were all worried at least a little as to what was in store for them when that Rocket returned to Giovanni.

"Shin, you know I'm not trying to piss you off." Zan started, "I'm just worried that you're getting into something you won't be able to get out of without something bad happening."

"Zan, I want this badly. I'm willing to go through anything and anyone for this…" Shin explained.

"Would you be willing to go through me?"

"… Yes…"

"I see…" Zan replied before getting up and heading walking away. "If this means that much to you, then I guess the only thing I can tell you is watch out!" he told Shin sarcastically.

"Watch out?" Shin asked, not sure what he meant.

"Yeah, watch out!" he repeated, "Because I'm a baaaad man!" Zan told him in a boastful manner as he begins bobbing back and forth before disappearing around a corner to take a short walk. After seeing his actions, Shin could do nothing more but laugh at his antics.

* * *

While walking around, Zan began thinking about the situation with Shin and the fact that it was very possible that Giovanni could have them square off in the arena. All he could do was hope that it wouldn't happen.

_"Even though Shin has his personality quirks, he's still a good guy."_ Zan thought to himself as he walked along the corridor. "He's just so damn adamant about his views on things that it rubs people the wrong way unless you really know him." he continued.

As he continued onward, he began to hear noises and yells from off in the distance.

"Hm, wonder what that noise is…" he wondered before sneaking forward and looking around a corner. Around the corner he saw a Tangela that he remembered seeing before but steered clear of it because, in his opinion, there was just simply something eerie about him.

What made him really take notice is that, by the looks of it, the Tangela had caught a pokémon with it's vines and was reeling it in. He started to jump in, but saw that Ephriam, Giovanni's sentry for the area, had spotted what was going on and was moving in.

_"Wait…"_ he told himself as he got a better look at the pokémon that was trapped in the vines. _"That's that pokémon Shin's been talking about! That's that winged Vulpix!"_ he yelled out in his head.


	13. The Body Is Willing

**The Body Is Willing**

It had been two weeks since Zan happened across Firefly and Ephriam, he didn't meet them face to face, instead he stuck to the other side of a corner while they watched a savage display of survival of the fittest. Zan had seen something like that happen quite a few times over the course of his stay, and the sights hadn't fazed him since the first time he saw a pack of Mightyena feast on a Stantler.

Also over the course of these two weeks, Shin had many days where he would have two fights a day in the arena and from the looks of it, they were beginning to take a toll on him. He was beginning to tire out from all the fighting since every fight would be harder than the last. He would occasionally go to one of the ponds to clean himself off, but after so many battles, it was beginning to grow tiresome to him. He had seemingly lost his spark that he had when he first came back, and that was the main reason Zan was considering telling him that he had seen the Vulpix. He wasn't sure if he should though, considering Shin's worn out state…

"Do you believe me now, Shin?" Zan asked him while he sat down next to him.

"About what?" Shin wondered, leaning against a wall with his eyes closed.

"About Giovanni, I told you that he was just going to be using you to take out the trash." Zan told him before getting up, "You know I'm right, and you didn't even have to sit here and do all of this because you could just walk into one of the connecting areas and possibly run-… Uh…"

"…Possibly what?" Shin answered before turning to him and narrowing his eyes.

"Avoid being called into the arena." Zan lied.

Upon hearing that, Shin stood up, "You're lying…"

"What?"

"I said you're lying, I can tell."

"It's true though, if you aren't in here when Giovanni comes calling you won't be able to fight."

"Stop trying to change the subject, Zan." Shin told him, "Now what were you going to say?"

"03, you're presence is demanded in the arena." A voice called out from the other side of the door.

"_Phew… saved by the idiot…_"Zan sighed to himself.

"Tch… I'm getting tired of this…" Shin muttered loud enough for Zan to hear.

"Look on the bright side though, he has to be running out of pokémon to send in with you." Zan called out after him.

"Let's hope so…" Shin thought as he walked through the open door that once again led to the corridor to the arena.

Once inside the arena he saw the familiar surroundings and heard the same lines. And right as he expected the doors to open to reveal his opponent, they did. Although he was not expecting the pokémon to walk through…

In stepped a rather large Bastiodon that dwarfed Shin in size.

"Meet today's opponenet, 03…" Giovanni's voice sounded off over the speaker system.

"So, you're that Raichu everyone seems to be talking about." the Bastiodon declares.

"And if I am?" Shin asked arrogantly before realizing that the large pokémon was charging him.

Before he could react, the Bastiodon slammed into him and sent him spiraling back into the wall with a thud. "Gah!" he grunted as he hit the floor and winced in pain.

After seeing the Raichu hit the ground, the Bastiodon simply began to move forward again instead of admiring his handiwork. "You can get up… I know you're not finished" he announced as he approached Shin.

Even though he was right about Shin not being done, Shin was physically wearing out from all the fighting and that shot he took really did a number on him.

"If I'm not finished, then finish me yourself." Shin replied while slowly rising to his feet. After doing so he spat at the large pokémon before him and snarled. "C'mon, too scared to finish me off?"

"So you turn to tactics like this when you know you're down… Exactly how you were described…"

Shin finally stood up straight and began to split into multiple forms, he was using Double Team. Before the move can be fully utilized however, the Bastiodon charges once more, but this time he pins Shin against the wall with it's shield-like head.

"Graah!" Shin yelled out while a small stream of blood began to form at the corner of his mouth. "Dammit!" he yelled out as he struggled to free himself.

Soon enough, the Bastiodon steps away and Shin slumps to the ground once more. "I feel sorry for you, Raichu…"

"And… why's that?" Shin grunted out while struggling to get up.

"Because you know you're going to die."

"You're… so quick to tell me… what's going… to happen." Shin began while finally rising to his feet and using the wall as support, "Yet, you're so slow… to show me how… it'll happen."

The Bastiodon simply nods before readying Headbutt, the attack he views as the finishing blow. As he does that, Shin's cheeks begin to spark slightly.

Suddenly, the Bastiodon charges forth once more to finish off Shin but narrowly misses as Shin made a desperate leap on top of his head.

"Get off of me!" he yelled to Shin, now sounding slightly flustered by the latest happenings in the battle.

"Lookie here… someone has a huge battle scar from a previous fight." Shin announced while hanging on to the top of the Bastiodon's head. As Shin raised his tail up, he was struck with Metal Burst and sent flying into the air. "Guh…."

After hanging in the air for what seemed like an eternity, he ended up landing in a shallow pond in the corner of the arena.

"I always believed that it was honorable to tell someone you're about to kill your name."

"…"

"My name is Alfred, and I'm sorry we couldn't meet under better terms than these." he spoke before stepping over to Shin, into the pond and raising a foot in the air, over Shin's head.

"…I'm Shin, the Alpha and Omega of pokémon!" Shin yelled out suddenly before opening his eyes and grinning with a sinister look in his eyes at Alfred who was caught off-guard. "Discharge!!!"

"No!" Alfred yelled before the pond they were in erupted into a shower of electricity and sparks. Both Shin and Alfred's forms soon became lost in a sea of electricity before an explosion came from where they were.

Following the explosion, Alfred's body was hurled across the arena and into a rock. His entire body was darkened from the attack as smoke billowed from his mouth as well trickle of blood.

Alfred tried to rise back to his feet but couldn't muster up enough strength to lift his large form up.

"As I said… my name's Shin." Shin called out as he came through the cloud of smoke, the explosion had damaged him as well. He was bleeding over his right eye and looked completely worn out, so much so that his tail was dragging the floor. He also had a noticeable limp.

"The water…" Alfred muttered out through the pain.

"It saved me, if I hadn't… landed there, you would've killed me."

After hearing the explanation, Alfred smiled lightly before wincing again from a sharp pain in his back. "My back… it's broken… Finish me…"

"I admire your heart and strength, maybe we'll meet once more someday." Shin told him which made Alfred smile once more before Shin slowly tried to raise his tail.

Before he could deliver the blow, however, Alfred had stopped breathing. The pain was too much for him and he died before the finishing blow could be administered.

"Damn… That… Spent me…" Shin stammered out just before collapsing out of exhaustion onto the floor and blacking out…

While the battle took place, Zan was still in their enclosure. One of the main things that was still on his mind was whether or not he should tell Shin that he saw the pokémon he was after, he saw the winged Vulpix. He knew that if he spoke up, that Shin would then begin an endless search around the complex for her and that when he found her, things wouldn't go well for anyone.

"So I won't tell him…" he told himself before nodding.

"Tell who what, Zan?" Nite asked from behind.

"Geez!" Zan spun around, bug-eyed. "You scared me half to death, Nite…" he sputtered out before clutching his chest and taking a deep breath.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you. I was just wondering what you saying."

"Oh, well." he started before pausing for a second, "It's nothing, really. Just mumbling to myself about something involving Shin is all."

"Is he really a good guy?" Nite asked, "Because as far as I've seen since he's been here… He's kind of an ass."

"That's him, you just have to know him a while and he'll open up. He's like an oran berry, the core tastes better than the outer layer. You just have to peel them away to get to the good part."

"Yeah… well he has too many layers to peel away if you ask me." Nite responded before folding his arms and looking away.

As he looked away, the door from the arena opened up and a red, winged figure stepped into the enclosure, carrying something over his shoulder.

"E-Ephriam?" Zan asked out.

"He won, but is in no shape to fight anymore today." Ephriam responded before setting Shin's body down on the floor, he was still unconscious.

"Holy Hell!" Ro exclaimed as he saw the battered body. "He looks like… well… hell."

"God…" Glint added as he looked down at the motionless body.

While they were looking on, Ephriam had already turned and walked out the door without saying another word.

"Well, he's not dead… But he looks like he's pretty close." Zan chimed in as he inspected the wounds. Just then, Zan remembered seeing Firefly use something to heal herself. _"Could that work?" _he wondered to himself.

"Zan, you ok?" Ro asked him when he saw that he had started staring at a wall.

"Huh?"

"You were staring blankly at a wall."

"Oh, yeah. I'm fine." Zan told him before rising to his feet and starting toward the doorway that led to the area the pokémon were allowed to roam.

"Where're you going now?" Nite yelled at him.

"Keep an eye on Shin, I'll be back!" he yelled before running off and out of sight.

"The hell was that about?" Ro wondered before turning back to Shin. "And why should we look after this guy?"

"Well… Zan did say so… and Zan's always had our backs."

"You have a point… but this guy's such an ass, almost makes me want to give him a shot across the mouth right now." Ro declared as she peered down at Shin's body.

"Try it… when I'm staring back… at you." Shin managed to stutter out before opening his left eye halfway. It had caught all of them off-guard, most of all, Ro who now felt a little worried about saying what he said.

"You going to be ok?" Glint asked him.

"In… a few days…"

"You know, you might not have that long to recover. Giovanni might want you fighting again tomorrow morning." Nite told him to which they all agreed, including Shin.

"We'll see…"

* * *

"Man, where'd she go?" Zan wondered as he looked around the areas. He had been looking around for Firefly for about ten minutes now and still saw no trace of her. Just when he was about to give up, though, he saw her and a Jolteon talking.

"Hm, Houkai." Zan thought to himself. "I haven't seen him around in a while…"

Just as he was about to head up to them, a Rocket found them and informed Houkai that he was needed in the arena.

"Well, I guess Shin's getting some rest after all. I hope Houkai'll be alright." He thought before walking around the corner after seeing the Rocket walk away and leave Firefly by herself.

"Excuse me!" he yelled out to her, "Can we talk?"

"Huh?" Firefly responded before looking around and finding Zan walking up to her.

"Sorry, didn't mean to startle you."

"Don't worry about it," Firefly responded. "By the look on your face it seems that you're in need of some help."

"I'm just going to cut to the chase, I saw you the other day with Ephriam." he told her, "You remember? The time that you had to use your ability to heal yourself?"

"You mean back when that Tangela attacked me? Yes, I remember," she answered. "Why do you ask?"

"Well, I have a big request…" he continued, "I have a friend… he's really injured and I was wondering if it were possible for you to heal him as well…"

"I see. I will do what I can, though my healing abilities can only do so much," she told him.

"Good, good. There's just this one thing though…"

"What is it?" she asked.

"Is your name… Firefly?" he asked her. Admittedly, part of him was hoping that she wasn't due to the threats Shin had made. But the other part of him knew that it was her.

"It is," she replied. "Um… forgive me for asking, but is knowing who I am really that important right now? I mean, you did say you had a friend that needed to be healed, right? Shouldn't that be more important than my identity?"

"Well, the reason I ask that now is…" Zan hesitated before taking a deep breath. "The reason I ask is because the person that needs to be healed has been hunting you down."

"H-Hunting me down?! But… but why? What reason would he have for hunting me down?" she asked him.

"Do you remember fighting a Team Rocket unit known as 'The Gold unit'?" he asked her.

"Unfortunately," she sighed. "Those guys tracked me and my friends for months before finally catching up to us. Why do you ask?"

"Well, he was one of them." Zan told her.

Over the next few minutes he clued her into everything he felt like she needed to know about Shin. Everything from his name to the fact that Shin was the pokemon that had been going in the arena day after day. He explained to her that she was the reason that he was doing that, he wanted a piece of her so bad that he told Giovanni that he would fight whoever he wanted in the arena, as long as she was the prize at the end of the tunnel.

"So there you have it, I know it doesn't seem like a good idea to heal him now." he began, "But please try to understand… He's just really dedicated." Zan told her, trying to smooth things out and hope she would agree.

He could tell that for the next few seconds, she was mulling over the idea in her head. _"I hope she's as kind as I've heard she is…"_ he thought.

"It may not be in my best interest to heal him, but I can't just leave him to suffer," she said. "Take me to him and I'll do what I can."

"Great, follow me then." he told her before leading her back to Enclosure 3.

Once getting there and walking into viewing range of the others, Zan nodded to them all to indicate that this was the pokémon he went to look for. He hadn't told them that she was also the pokémon Shin was hunting for since he figured it wasn't something they needed to know at the time.

"Here he is." he told Firefly and pointed to Shin who was still in the same spot as he had left him, he looked to be resting at the moment. _"Hope he stays asleep and doesn't see her…" _he thought.

After walking over to him and inspecting the wounds, she began to use Synthesis to heal the wounds. When his body took on a green glow, the others all stood back and watched as, slowly, the scars, cuts, bruises and scrapes began to fade away. Soon enough, Shin looked good as new thanks to her.

"Wow…" Nite mumbled out.

"It's done," she announced to them. "I'd recommend that he not enter the arena for at least three or four days. A week would be best but I doubt if Giovanni would allow that."

"Agreed, with any luck Giovanni won't call him for _one_ day, let alone seven…"

"True. That does seem to be his style," she agreed.

"So, um. If you don't mind the intrusion, who are you?" Ro asked Firefly rather bluntly.

"Well, now that she's finished, I do think that introductions are in order." Zan commented. "She's-"

"I… think I've seen you before…" Nite cut in before trying to figure out the name, "It's right on the tip of my tongue…"

"Her name is-"

"Something to do with… Fire…"

"Nite…" Zan muttered with his face in his paw.

"No, not Nite. That's me…" Nite responded, completely in his own world before being slapped behind the head. "Ow!"

"Like I was-"

"Zan, just let her introduce herself… It'll be quicker." Glint suggested to which Zan responded with a long sigh and a nod.

"Alright…"

"My name is Firefly," she said, slightly giggling at the scene before her.

"Firefly!" Nite yelled out immediately after she said it, "I knew it had something to do with Fire!"

"I've heard of you," Glint commented. "You were the pokemon that led a group of other's out of here earlier this year."

"That was me," she said.

After Firefly confirmed that she was the one that got out before with all the others, Shin's tail slid across the ground and came across Firefly's face, leaving a cut across her left cheek.

"Holy Shit!" Nite yelled out as he stumbled back.

"Dammit!" Zan yelled out as well.

"What the…" Firefly muttered, brushing her paw over the cut.

"I've waited a long time to finally find you…" Shin told Firefly, "And now you're right here in my lap."

"Shin, don't do anything rash. Your wounds aren't fully healed just yet." Zan tried to reason as he saw Shin slowly sit up.

"I don't care, as long as I can kill her…"

"But you're in no condition to do anything, let alone fight." Ro commented.

"Enough! This is between Firefly and myself!" Shin declared as he stood straight up, finally. Truth be told, he knew he wasn't back at full strength, but he was not about to let this opportunity pass him by.

"I'd listen to them if I were you," Firefly said. "Besides, I'm not going to fight you in your condition."

"You will fight, If you value your life." Shin told her.

"Shin, take it easy." Nite calmly stated seeing the tip of Shin's tail slam into the ground in front of him.

"Anyone who gets in my way will be considered a casualty…" Shin declared, "And I mean anyone…" he continued before looking to Zan.

"Shin, at least wait until you're 100% if you really want to do this" Zan continued to plead.

"Dis…" Shin began.

"Dis?" Zan wondered, then his eyes went wide. "Discharge!"

"Shit." Ro gasped before they all jumped back a couple feet.

In front of them, Shin's body slowly began taking on a white glow. His gaze shifted back to Firefly and an eerie grin spread across his face as his cheeks began to crackle with electricity.

"-Chaaarge!" Shin yelled out before an explosion of electricity rocketed from his body.

As quick as the attack started, it halted. The explosion and any remnants of it vanished and all that was left of it was Shin, wincing and breathing heavily.

"D-….Dammit…" he gasped before passing out and hitting the floor, completely unconscious.

Slowly, everyone started to come back out.

"Looks like he's spent." Nite observed before looking to Ro who agreed.

"Yeah, that attack used up all he had left in the tank."

Soon enough, Zan walked to where Firefly was standing, "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine," she answered. "Though his wounds were fully healed his strength has not returned to him. And what of you? Are all of you alright?"

"We're fine," he replied before looking over at the rest of them. "Just probably a bit shaken up."

"That's a relief. I'm glad everyone got through that unharmed," she said.

"Oh, that's right!" Zan remembered, "We never finished introductions, sorry."

"That's right," Firefly agreed. "I guess we were so caught up in what just happened we completely forgot."

He then turned back to the others and pointed to each in turn, first up was Nite.

"The Marowak is Nite."

He then turned to the Lucario and Scizor, "That's Ro and Glint." he then turned, only to come up empty on the last one. "Hey, anyone seen Wren lately?"

"Uh… now that you mention it, he's been kinda quiet and distant lately…" Ro replied before looking around as well.

"Ah, doesn't matter. Wren's a Gliscor that you'll probably see later on. Then, of course, there's me. I'm Zan" he finished before nodding to her.

"It's a pleasure to meet you all," Firefly said.

"The pleasure's all ours." Zan replied with a smile before being shoved out of the way by Nite.

"Yeah, come back anytime you want!…. Uhh… As long as Shin's doesn't know…"

"Nite, shutup…" Ro told him.

"I'm just saying, Ro…"

"Sorry about that," Zan told her after getting her attention from Nite. "So, if I remember you were talking with Houkai before he was called into the arena. Matter of fact, knowing him he might be done by now."

"You're probably right, and knowing him he probably headed back to the cave and is getting an ear-full from Ryley about coming back without me," Firefly said. "I guess I should head on back and restore the peace. Take care." With that said she turned and left.

"She seemed really nice, just like I heard about her." Nite commented after she had walked off.

"Also seems like someone here has the hots for her too." Ro added in cheekily.

"Do not!"

"Whatever you say, Nite. Whatever you say."

"Grrr… Shutup, Ro…"

"Ok, ok. Leave him alone, Ro" Zan spoke up before looking around the enclosure a bit, "Now, back to what I mentioned right before Firefly left… When's the last time anyone's seen Wren?"

"Honestly, I can't remember. He always seemed to just fade in with the surroundings though." Ro told him.

"Yeah, he never really spoke that much."

"Hmm… Wonder what happened to him…"

**~{Somewhere Else In The Facility}~**

"So, the Raichu's down and is in no condition to fight?" A voice asked.

"That's right, last I saw he was face down in the middle of Enclosure 3." Wren answered.

"Perfect… We move immediately…"


	14. Mutiny

**Mutiny**

It had been a day since Firefly came and healed all of Shin's wounds, not much had changed since then. Wren was still nowhere to be found, and Shin still wasn't strong enough to go back into the arena. While Shin continued to regain his strength, Zan began trying to stall things whenever a grunt would stop by to order Shin into the arena. He knew eventually that things wouldn't turn out as well as they had been, but he also knew if Shin went to fight that he would most certainly be killed in his weakened state.

He also knew that Giovanni would quickly grow tired of hearing that a Zangoose was keeping Shin from fighting and that dire consequences loomed on the horizon for him…

Meanwhile, in Giovanni's box above the arena where he would watch the fights, Giovanni was berating another group of grunts that had failed him yet again…

"Why hasn't anything been done about that Zangoose in Enclosure 3?!" Giovanni yelled to a group of grunts after hearing of the Zangoose repelling another grunt from retrieving Shin for the arena.

"Well, sir. We weren't quite sure how to handle it…" one of them spoke up, realizing immediately that he should've just stayed silent like the rest of them.

"You don't know how?" Giovanni responded, seemingly begging an answer so he could have a reason to tear someone apart. "Kill the blasted pokémon would be a wondrous start, you good-for-nothings!"

"Y-yes sir!" they replied in unison and began to make their way out the door.

"Stop!" Giovanni ordered which made them all pause, mid-movement. "None of you will be doing this, you would all screw things up once more. I already have something in mind that can't be ruined by spineless worms like yourself."

All the grunts lowered their heads after he was finished and slowly left his sight.

Soon after they left, Giovanni picked up a phone that was built into his seat, dialed a number and waited for an answer.

"… Yes, bring me the Zangoose from Enclosure 3..." he told the person on the other end of the line before hanging up and smiling. "Your time protecting 03 is over…"

Back in Enclosure 3, Zan was sitting near the door that the grunts had been coming through to retrieve Shin. He had taken to sitting there around the hours that the grunts would come since he had noticed that they had a routine. Whenever it would get to be twenty or so minutes before they were to arrive, Zan would go and wait next to the door until they came.

Today, however, no grunts came in at Noon like they had been. Zan waited next to the door until half an hour had passed before giving up. Inside, he knew that something was amiss.

"They're up to something…" he thought aloud while sitting next to Ro.

"Why would you say that?"

"Well, they've been coming here three times a day for the past few days to get Shin. Almost like clockwork." he started, "And now, all of a sudden, they stop."

"Maybe they just got tired of trying to get around you to get to him."

"I doubt it… Hey, this has been eating at me for a long time…" Zan spoke up and looked to him intently which caught Ro off guard.

"Uh, what?"

"Why is your name Ro?"

"Huh? You want to know about that now?"

"What else is there to do at the moment?"

"Yeah, and I wanna know too!" Nite chimed in as he walked up on them.

"Gah.. Fine, fine…" he replied before giving a deep sigh. "The reason I'm called Ro is because I used to belong to a trainer that had a speech problem. He couldn't make the 'I' sound all that well so it just came out 'Lucaro' instead of Lucario."

"Ohhhh, so, what did you go by before then?" Nite asked.

"Well, I don't really remember since it's been so long."

"How about we just call you Rio instead?" Zan suggested, "Ro sounds feminine."

"Rio?… Well, I guess that could work… It'll take some getting used to though, I've been called Ro for as long as I can remember."

"Zan's right though, Rio sounds a lot better."

"I guess." he responded, "It does sound better, but it's just that I've been called Ro for so long."

"If you don't want us to start calling you Rio, then just say so. It won't be a big deal." Zan told him.

"No, no. It's fine, I like it" he smiled.

"Ok then, Rio." Nite added before trotting off as well, just in time enough to avoid meeting up with Shin who found his way over to Zan.

"Where is she?"

"Shin…"

"I'm done playing around, tell me where in the hell she is, Zan." Shin demanded.

"…No."

"Zan… I consider you the closest thing to family I've had in years, is protecting that Vulpix worth this?"

"Shin, I told you that I had no intention of getting in the middle of this. I'm sorry, but I won't help you find her." Zan explained to him, hoping that he'd understand.

Shin simply just began to stare at him, no real emotion showing on his face until he sighed and looked away. "Fine, I'm alright with that… I guess…" Shin told him.

After hearing that, a weight seemed to lift off of Zan's shoulders.

"I'm really glad that you understand… But just know, I won't help, but I won't stand in your way. I promise you that."

"It would be in your best interest not to." he replied with a smirk.

"And just what is that supposed to mean?"

"It means that-"

"Attention, all pokémon in Enclosure 3!" A voice boomed from the second doorway that lead to the different areas the pokémon were allowed to go to.

"Who the hell?" Shin wondered as he turned around and came face to face with five pokémon standing in front of the doorway.

"We've come to take this enclosure off of your hands." one of them spoke up, smugly.

"What the hell is going on?" Zan yelled out as he came to meet the pokémon that seemed to be the leader of the group, a black Espeon.

"As I said, we're taking this Enclosure off of your hands."

"You realize that there are two things wrong with that?" Zan asked him, "The Rockets assign us to the Enclosure, so you're basically undermining Giovanni himself. And we really don't feel like moving out, so just turn on back around and go home." Zan told him.

Soon after Zan spoke up, Nite, Glint and the newly renamed Rio came to his side.

"I knew you'd all do this, all of you. Nite, Glint, Ro and even you, Zan." the Espeon revealed.

"H-how do you know our names?!" Nite asked.

"That would be because of me" another voice spoke up behind the Espeon before coming to the front.

"Wren…" Rio muttered under his breath, "How dare you…"

"So this is where you've been all this time, you were going behind our backs and selling us out." Zan observed and nodded his head.

"Why, Wren?" Nite asked, a look of sadness overtaking his features. "Why did you turn on us, weren't we your friends?"

"Just one more reason why I view you as a pile of shit." Shin spoke up from behind as he made his way over. "I mean, aside from you being brown, Gliscor."

"My name's Wren, Shin." he replied, a little annoyed that he didn't call him by his name.

"I don't really care what you say your name is, you're just a pile of shit to me." Shin told him.

"You'll regret that…"

"I highly doubt that…"

"Enough!" the Espeon declared which made Shin shift his glance.

"Or what?" Shin asked him.

"We all know that you're in no condition to fight, Shin." the Espeon told him with a smile. "So I can do what I want to you and not worry about getting hurt in the pro-" he started to say but was cut off when Shin's tail swiped across his jaw, leaving a small cut to the left of his mouth.

"…You were saying?" Shin smugly responded.

"You… you bastard!"

"There's five of you, and five of us… You won't win." Zan declared before showing his fangs.

Out of the five pokémon, none of them looked abnormal except for the Espeon and Wren, but they all looked eager to test their mettle against the pokémon of Enclosure 3. The Espeon made a motion with his head and Wren made a lunge towards Shin.

"Graah!" he yelled out, arms extended and reaching for Shin's throat. Before he got too close, Glint came in from the right side and struck him with X-Scissor. The hit sent him sliding across the floor.

"Glint?! What the hell?!" he yelled out.

"You and me."

"I'll kill you!" he screamed before charging the Scizor wildly.

As soon as he started charging, the other four pokémon broke into a run towards the other four. Shin matched up with a Golduck and the other three each had one as well.

"Do you really think that you'll live through this?" Shin asked the pokémon as he continued to take swipes at his face and miss.

"Shutup!" the Golduck fighting him yelled back.

He continued to strike at Shin without noticing that each strike came up a few inches away from hitting. Truthfully, Shin really hadn't recovered completely and that was the main reason the Golduck was still striking at him instead of laying, face down on the ground. He honestly wasn't sure on whether or not he had enough energy to down him without completely draining himself.

Meanwhile, Glint and Wren were squaring off. Due to both of them having been experimented on and their skin garnering steel-like qualities, they could take a few more hits than normal pokémon of their species could. They each had landed a few shots in as made evident by the scrapes and cuts across the bodies. Wren had been able to avoid the majority of Glint's attacks due to his superior flying speed. It's true that Glint could fly, but he chose not to take to the skies unless he had no other choice and therefore, he wasn't as adept at aerial combat as Wren.

"You don't understand why I'm doing this, do you?" Wren asked in mid-flight while dodging a few X-Scissor attempts.

"I don't care."

"What? Why not?" Wren questioned, bothered by the lack of Glint wanting to hear what drove him to this.

"You're my enemy, that's all I need to know." Glint told him as he leaped into the air and cut into one of Wren's wings with Metal Claw, tearing a hole in it.

"Ahh!" Wren screamed out before spiraling to the ground and landing on a patch of dirt, throwing a cloud of dust into the air in the process.

"Unlike you, I don't look or need ulterior motives to do something…"

"It's because of that damned Raichu!" Wren yelled out as Glint made his way over to him. "He came in here and took the place over, and I didn't want to involve you guys but once he got here everybody started catering and flocking to him like we were some pathetic, lost sheep…"

"Are you done?" Glint asked, his mood unchanging.

"… Never!" he yelled before lunging towards him.

As they continued to fight, Zan, Rio and Nite stood together to face their three foes. Zan took the point, Nite was to the left and Rio was on the right. In front of them stood a Floatzel, a Vigoroth and a Beedrill.

"Rio, take the bug." Zan instructed.

"Right"

"I got the Vigoroth!" Nite chimed in enthusiastically.

"Right then, that leaves the leftovers to me."

"I'll show you leftovers…" the Floatzel told him with a snarl.

And with that being said, the six of them jumped into battle with each other. They all fought at close range except for Rio and the Beedrill who, every now and then sprinkled in some ranged fighting as well. The Beedrill seemed uneasy about going hand-to-hand with a Lucario, so whenever the opportunity would show itself, it would back off and fire off a volley of Pin Missiles. As each needle swarmed towards him, Rio put his hands in front of him and used Force Palm to send them spiraling back at the ceiling, away from everyone.

"Clever," the Beedrill acknowledged.

"Glad you thought so." Rio replied before bringing his hands in front of him again but turning to the side this time and lining up for Aura Sphere.

"No you don't!" The Beedrill yelled out before dive bombing him and catching Rio off-balance with a body slam which only sends him stumbling back a bit. "You little runt, that barely hurt!"

"Wasn't supposed to." the Beedrill responded before stabbing Rio in his left shoulder with it's stinger.

"Dammit!" Rio yelled out while clutching his shoulder. "You bug-eyed bastard, you'll pay for that." he told him.

Meanwhile, Nite was having a little difficulty with his opponent. It seemed like every move he made, the Vigoroth would cut him off and the skull on his head showed it. It had become covered in scrapes from the long claws of the Vigoroth.

"_Man, I can't even get a shot in on this guy…" _he thought to himself as he continued to narrowly avoid a few more damaging blows.

"Stand… still!" the Vigoroth yelled at him while swinging wildly.

Suddenly, the Vigoroth stopped and smiled at him. "Fine, dodge this!" it yelled before opening it's mouth.

"H-Hyper Beam?!" Nite yelled out, not believing what he saw.

"_I gotta think of something!" _he told himself. As he thought, he looked at the Vigoroth once more and noticed that a light was beginning to show itself from inside it's mouth.

"Damn!" Nite panicked and hurled his bone as hard as he could as a last ditch effort. Suddenly, the low humming noise of the attack readying left and Nite looked over, worriedly to see what had happened.

"Huh?"

"Guh… No… Way…" the Vigoroth grunted before collapsing onto the floor.

"I… did it?"


	15. Superiority

**Superiority**

As all the battles waged on, it had started become very apparent that the invading team of pokémon were outmatched by the "home team". By a miraculous stroke of luck, Nite had finished his battle before anyone else and was now assisting Zan against the only pokémon that seemed to be on equal footing with them, the black Espeon.

"Nite?!" Zan asked, not believing that he was here. "Where's the Vigoroth you were fighting?"

"Uhh… I beat him." Nite responded before lining up next to Zan to face the Espeon.

"How did you finish your fight before anyone else?" he asked him, blown away that Nite was finished already.

"Well, you know me…"

"Enough!" the Espeon yelled out, "I'm not going to stand here while you two have a conversation amongst yourselves!"

"You should be satisfied with just them talking…" another voice chimed in from behind him.

"Wha-" the Espeon started to ask before being struck in the back of his head by a Mach Punch. The attack sent him tumbling into a nearby rock with a loud thud.

As he rose from the rubble, he glanced up to see that all of the fighting was done except for Wren and Glint who were simply staring each other down, both were too tired to launch something at the other.

"Glint… why are you fighting for him?" Wren asked, still trying to reason with the Scizor. "He's done nothing but complicate things for everyone ever since he arrived, why defend him?!"

"I'm not defending him, I'm just killing you."

"W-what?"

"I'm not doing this for Shin, I'm doing this because you sold us out." Glint answered bluntly.

"I haven't sold anybody out!"

"And now you lie…" Glint told him before powering up Metal Claw.

"I did this just to rid everyone of that Raichu!" Wren declared, hoping to talk Glint out of doing this. In his mind, he knew he had enough left to defend against Metal Claw. He just didn't know if he had enough to defend against anything else that followed.

"Then you'll lie to your grave!" Glint yelled before initiating a wide, arching swing towards Wren.

Before the attack connected, Wren was able to use protect at the last second which deflected the attack and shattered immediately after as he fell to a knee.

"Glint, stop!" Wren pleaded.

"Die with dignity." Glint responded before thrusting his clamp-like hand straight at Wren's throat.

Once again, before his attack could connect it was stopped by something coming between it and Wren's throat. When his claw hit it, it made a metallic clang echo through the enclosure. When Glint and Wren looked up to see what stopped the attack, they saw a red tail, shaped loosely like a lightning bolt between them.

"Shin!" Wren blurted out. He quickly glanced back towards where the Espeon had been and saw that he had a large stab wound in his chest and blood was pooling around him slowly. Now, knowing that he was the last one of his group, Wren came to the conclusion that he wouldn't be the last for long…

"Why'd you stop me?" Glint asked.

"Simple, I wanted to say something first." Shin answered him before turning his attention to the nervous Gliscor who lay at his feet.

"As you wish…"

"Like I said… mindless sheep follo- GRAAH!" He started before feeling a sharp pain in his stomach, causing him to cry out in pain.

"I spare you life for a few more seconds and the first thing you do is decide to rattle on about them following me like mindless sheep… You have guts, I should know. I see them in there." Shin commented sarcastically as he stood above Wren with the point of his tail inside the pokémon's abdomen.

"S-Shin… You'll… pay dearly…" Wren stammered, gasping for air as pain continued to course through his body.

"If you're any indication as to what I have to look out for, I'm in no danger of dying anytime soon. Now…" he replied before turning to Glint. "Feel free to finish what you started."

To this, Glint nodded and stepped forward once more. "Thank you."

As Glint walked next to Wren's bloody body, his left claw took on a shine one more time. The shine looked to be drastically different than the time before and there was a good reason for it too. Last time it was Metal Claw, this time… Guillotine. As Glint readied the attack, Shin twisted his tail clockwise jerkily before wripping it out of the wounded Gliscor.

"Shin…" Wren weakly called out, causing Shin to look back at him. "I'll… see you.. In… hell…"

To this, Shin smirked before leaning down over him. "You had better hope not."

And with that being said, Shin turned away. A few seconds later, a slicing sound could be heard…

* * *

It was nighttime in the clearing that they were nestled into. The pokémon were spread out with certain ones grouped together. The baby pokémon were snuggled in with Indigo and Firefly's family while the others were either close to them or in smaller groups, sound asleep.

Rei was seated on a rock that was near a cliff where you could see the valley below where they were. She knew it was best to sleep like the others, but at the moment, she just couldn't. All she could think about was the fact that here they were, still no sign of the headquarters, and in a land that was foreign to her in every way. At times, she felt like things were hopeless and that they were just wandering around in an unknown area while Shin was getting tortured by Giovanni.

"Something's gotta give eventually…"

"I agree." a voice chimed in from behind her, causing her to spin around. Once she did so, she noticed that Diego and Eve were walking towards her.

"Oh, Diego and Eve, Hi." Rei commented as the hopped onto the rock she was on.

"Hi, Rei. I thought you'd be asleep by now." Eve asked her before yawning deeply.

"Yeah, I know I should… But I can't sleep."

"Why not?"

"Well… I've got a lot on my mind at the moment with all that's going on and everything, that's all."

"We've all got a lot on our minds, Rei. But Eve's right, we all need sleep in case something happens tomorrow and we need to pull our weight." Diego told her matter-of-factly, "If a fight breaks out, we can't have a squeaky wheel weighing us down."

"Diego, shut it. "Another voice called out.

"Tch…"

"Indigo, I thought you would be sleeping." Eve commented as he made his way over to them.

"I was, but then I heard voices and decided to see who it was."

"Oh… sorry, I didn't mean to wake you up." Rei apologized which was followed by Diego snorting and hopping off the rock.

"I'm going back to sleep, c'mon Eve." he called out. Soon afterwards, Eve followed behind him after apologizing for his abrasiveness.

"How did those two meet up?" Rei wondered aloud to which Indigo chuckled.

"Sometimes I wonder the exact same thing, Rei." he told her before sitting next to her on the rock. "Can't sleep?"

"No, too much on my mind right now to sleep…"

"I know the feeling." he responded before looking to the sky and sighing.

"You really miss her, don't you?" she asked him to which he answered with a nod.

"_More than you know, Rei… More than you know…"_

* * *

It had been a couple days since the skirmish inside Enclosure 3. Truth be told, Giovanni hadn't given much thought to the fight and had just sent a sentry to see what remained afterwards. When the sentry arrived at the door to the Enclosure, he came face to face with a pile of dead pokémon laying next to the door.

"What in the hell happened here?" he wondered aloud as he opened the door and walked over to the pile.

"They tested us, and failed." Shin spoke up as he approached the grunt.

"Who tested you all?"

"Why don't you ask them?" Zan commented as he walked up from another direction, to his right was Nite.

"It might be a little difficult to do so, seeing as they are kinda dead…" Rio chimed in from yet another direction while being flanked by Glint.

Together, they were surrounding him and leaving only the doorway as his path of choice. Unless he wanted to fight and try to prove his dominance.

"Ok you five, back off. Don't make me call in back up." the grunt demanded with a little waver in his voice. He was trying desperately to sound stern and tough, but the fact that he was staring down five pokémon who were all surrounding him was making this tough to do.

"Call them in… I dare you, runt." Shin mocked.

"Damn pokémon…" the grunt muttered out before slowly backing away towards the door.

As they slowly continued to converge on him, the grunt swiftly jumped back through the doorway and slammed it behind him before looking through the looking glass at them and snarling.

"Giovanni will here about this!" he yelled to them through the door before sprinting off.

Afterwards, Zan turned around and sighed deeply. "He's not bluffing, he will go and snitch to Giovanni."

"So?" Shin replied, honestly not worried about the situation that was presenting itself.

"You mean… he could split us up?" Nite asked, worried about the prospect of losing his friends.

"No, Nite. That's not what he meant." Rio chimed in.

"What he meant, was that they could come in and wipe us out for causing such a disturbance." Shin explained rather bluntly.

"Thanks for putting it so bluntly, Shin…" Zan replied sarcastically before walking over to Nite and looking at him. "Nothing's going to happen, we aren't going to be split up or hurt. Alright?"

After hearing that from Zan, Nite smiled and shook his head. Truthfully, Nite was still relatively young even though most of the time he doesn't show it. But when situations arise that could mean death or something close to it, he shows his age clearly.

"Yeah, besides. If we can take them, I'm sure we can take anything those Rocket bastards send at us!" Rio added in enthusiastically.

By this time, the sentry had returned to Giovanni to tell him just what had happened regarding the pokémon of Enclosure 3 and the dead bodies.

"So, you went and saw all the dead bodies of those other pokémon… And you're surprised that they opposed you… Am I right?"

"Y-yes sir." the grunt replied nervously, not liking the tone of his voice.

"I sincerely hope there was another reason you decided to disturb me at this moment…"

"S-sorry, sir. But yes."

"Then get the hell out of here before I throw you in that Enclosure with no pokémon to defend yourself with!" Giovanni yelled, causing the grunt to stumble before hurrying out the door and shutting it behind him.

Afterward, Giovanni rose from his chair and walked over to a wall that was lined with monitors for the enclosures. Each enclosure had three separate camera angles and, therefore, three separate monitors. After a few seconds, he found the three that were for Enclosure 3 and saw what the grunt had hastily told him.

"Enjoy your time while you have it, 03... You and your 'friends' won't be so happy soon enough…"


	16. Vengeance

**Vengeance**

It had been a few days since the showdown in Enclosure 3 and a day since the grunt was scared off. Since then Shin had been trying, relentlessly to find a way into the other Enclosures. Since the Espeon and Wren had done it, he knew it was possible, he just had to figure out how. Today though…

"That winged, bitch is mine…" Shin spoke out to nobody in particular out as he re-entered the Enclosure.

"What?" Zan asked after rising to his feet.

"Firefly's Enclosure… I know where it is now" Shin snarled to which Zan felt his heart leap into his throat. It was true that all pokémon were free to go to whatever enclosure they wanted to, but with the rigorous arena schedule and his energy level, Shin was never able to until now.

"Shin, I really wish you would let this go…"

"And I wish you would either help or stay out of my way."

"Fine… so, if you find her why didn't you try and kill her then?"

"Kill who?" Rio asked as he walked up to them with Nite in tow.

"Who do you think?" Zan replied and Rio understood what he meant.

"Listen up… I can deal with nobody wanting to help, but if any of you want to stand in my way…" Shin threatened and glanced menacingly down to Nite who shuffled back a slight bit. "I'll tear you limb from limb…"

"Nobody is going to get involved, you have my word."

"Good." he replied before beginning to make his way back in the direction from which he came.

"Zan," Nite spoke up as he stood between he and Rio. "Is Shin really going to hurt her?"

Honestly, Zan had no idea what was going to happen. He knew how strong Shin was, and he also knew that Shin was back at 100% now. But, he also had a feeling that Firefly was at least his equal. It was true that he didn't know anything about her other than what Shin told him and what he'd seen when she healed Shin, but something told him that she was a lot tougher than she looked.

Soon after Shin began to make his way out, Glint flew over and slid to a stop in front of him. He then turned to him and nodded solemnly. "I'll go."

"Glint?" Rio wondered aloud, wondering why he wanted to go.

"And just why do you want to come along?" Shin asked, wondering the same thing Rio was.

"My own personal reasons." Was his reply as he stood next to him.

"… Alright, let's go then." Shin responded, satisfied by the answer given before beginning to exit the Enclosure with Glint at his side.

As the continued walking along and passing a few clearings where pokémon were gathered and either conversing or drinking water, Shin noticed that, for once, none of the pokémon were trying to kill each other for once.

"Glint, how long have you been held captive here?"

"Seven months, I was here before you escaped the last time."

"I never saw you back then, were you held in a different section?" Shin inquired.

"Yes, I was in compound A. I was a part of an experiment where Team Rocket were trying to give all pokémon of all types metallic skin coating." he explained. "To some it worked, but it failed at about a rate of eighty-eight percent."

"But you're a Scizor, what were they doing to you?" Shin asked, a little confused. "You're already Steel."

"They used samples of my DNA and combined them with others that weren't steel types."

"I see, what happened to the failures?"

"They were thrown into the incinerators and disposed of." Glint told him, his voice eerily unwavering.

"Sounds like something Giovanni would do in a heartbeat…" Shin commented before stopping next to an opened hatch to an enclosure. "Here, this is the enclosure that Firefly stays in…"

"I don't see her, is she in the arena?"

"I have no idea, but I'm willing to wait until I see her to make sure…" Shin told him before crouching down on one side of the hatch and Glint on the other doing the same.

****************************Back in Enclosure 3.******************************

Zan, Nite and Rio were all sitting around and wondering just what was about to happen between Shin and Firefly. Neither of them knew what would be happening soon, but deep down, two of them wanted to at least witness it. They were just waiting for Zan to mention it. The issue was that Zan wanted no part of what was going to go down between Shin and Firefly.

"You think Giovanni would intervene in their fight?" Nite asked.

"No way, he'll probably be the most interested spectator." Rio responded before turning to Zan, "What do you think?"

After sighing and looking away from them and in the direction that Shin left he turned back to them, "I think Giovanni would be ecstatic if this happened. From what I've heard he's been constantly trying to test them."

"Well this would be the perfect opportunity for them to be tested. Shin's an asshole most of the time but he's a strong one…" Rio commented.

"Yeah, but Zan, you've known him longer than any of us. How strong is he?"

"Honestly… I have no clue, I've never seen him go completely all-out before." Zan told them, "And I really don't want to…"

* * *

"Tch… all I've seen is a horned Jolteon and a few others…" Shin spoke up to nobody in particular.

"We could always lure her out."

"The thought's crossed my mind a few times, just no real way to do that without making it seem obvious."

"I could go in and ask for her assistance in healing a 'friend' of mine" Glint suggested.

"That would work except for the fact that she knows who you are from when she healed my wounds a while back. I also take it that those with her are very protective of her, so there would be a good chance of you being ambushed once we're found out."

"I'm willing to take the risk…"

"… You sure?" Shin asked. In truth, he had grown to trust Glint and appreciate his no-nonsense attitude. After breaking out, he planned on having Glint around for a while.

"Yes." Glint answered before rising back to his feet.

"Well then, when you get in there. Stand away from the opening of that little cave that she's obviously in." Shin explained while motioning to the cave that the pokémon had been gathered around for some time now. "I want you to ask for the one named Firefly and say that you have a friend that's in need of healing."

"Right."

"Make sure you say this loud enough for her to hear you inside, if she comes out right then, I'll take over. If not, keep talking to try and get her out of there. I don't want to show myself before she leaves that cave's entrance, understood?"

"Yes." Glint responded before slowly making his way over to the cave…

* * *

"Zan, we have to go!" Rio declared as she continued to try to talk Zan into going with them. "We don't know what Shin will start with all the other pokémon that get in his way on the path to Firefly."

"Rio, it has nothing to do with us and I promised Shin that I wouldn't stand in his way." Zan replied before walking over to a thick patch of grass where some berries had been gathered.

"You'd honor that knowing that pokémon are more than likely going to do because of him?!"

"Then what's stopping you two from going by yourselves?!" Zan yelled, finally fed up. "I don't see you two going to stop him or protect the innocent bystanders!"

"We… we were kinda hoping you would join us." Nite explained rather timidly, he didn't like it when his friends yelled at each other.

"Gah, why?"

"You always were the leader amongst us… And now that Shin's arrived you're more interested in appeasing him rather than being our leader and friend, Zan!" Rio told him.

"Yeah, you always took time out to teach me stuff and show me how to do certain things before he got here, but now you barely have any time to do anything with any of us." Nite chimed in.

The whole situation caught Zan by complete surprise as he stood there and took the verbal assault from the two younger pokémon. As he stood and listened, he knew that what they were saying was absolutely right and justified in every way. He had started distancing himself unintentionally ever since Shin arrived… And it stopped here and now…

"Alright… Let's go then." he told them which got a nod from Rio and a joyful smile from Nite.

* * *

"Shin, they're beginning to move… Looks like they're all headed somewhere…" Glint spoke up which snapped Shin out of a stare. "It looks like they're leading Firefly somewhere else."

"Alright then, lets go." Shin commanded before rising to his feet and Glint doing the same. "Just stay at a far enough distance so they don't notice us."

"Right."

As they passed the structure that Firefly had been in, Shin stopped to look in and saw that it was just someplace for pokémon to rest. In one spot near the back end of it, there were a few feathers that looked like they had been in Firefly's wings until someone cleaned them for her. At first, Shin had an urge to Iron Tail the thing but he ended up passing on the notion and continuing on with Glint. Just off into the distance they could make out Firefly and her new group of friends.

"Is that… a grave that they found?" Shin asked, not sure due to them being just within eyesight of them and hiding behind some cover.

"Looks like it, want me to scout ahead?"

"Be on your guard, don't do anything stupid either."

"Right," Glint acknowledged before using agility to dart from cover to cover to see what they were looking at from a closer angle. After closing the gap between them to half, Glint could tell that they had indeed stopped at a grave.

"It looks like it's a grave for a friend of Firefly…" Glint observed before noticing a footsteps behind him. He looked and saw that Shin was walking towards them, not darting for cover at all.

"You're going to get spotted."

"Sounds good…"

After a few more steps Shin comes to a stop with Glint behind him and he smiles. "So this is where the little winged fox has run off to…" he yelled out to them.

* * *

"I hope we aren't gonna be too late," Rio spoke up as they continued onward.

"We really should've made sure we knew where to go first…" Nite chimed in before Zan looked around and pointed to the left.

"I know where I'm going now come on!" he told them before breaking into a sprint in the direction that he pointed.

In truth, Zan had forgotten slightly where Firefly's enclosure was. When he came the first time, he didn't take the time to remember any landmarks or the number of the enclosure since he was in a rush for Shin's sake. And now, being in a rush possibly for either Shin or Firefly's sake he was paying the price as they continued running and hoping to run across the right enclosure soon enough.

* * *

"Shin! What are you doing here?!" Firefly questioned.

"I'm here for something that was owed to me the minute you opposed the Gold Unit…" he told her. "You, Firefly."

"How did you know I fought the Gold Unit? There weren't any… no way! You mean… you're a survivor of the Gold Unit?!" Firefly gasped.

"That's impossible! I heard the Gold Unit was wiped out completely and that there were no survivors!" Houkai argued. "How do we know you're not lying?!"

"The last time I checked, you were not in this conversation, runt…" Shin told Houkai, "So stay out of it."

"Why you stuck up…"

"Why don't you go to hell and kiss my ass on the way down, eh?" Shin added with a snarl.

"You…"

"Cool it, Houkai. If this guy is really a survivor of the Gold unit then he's not someone to be messed with," Ryley warned.

"There's no 'if' involved. He is a Gold unit survivor," Firefly said.

"How do you know?" Ole asked.

"The only way he'd know I fought them is if he was there, and the fact that he knows tells me he was," she explained. "What other explanation is there? He has to be one of the surviving Pokémon."

"But we all heard that the Gold unit was completely wiped out," Faber said.

"Check your sources next time, if you don't believe me… then test me…" Shin taunted as Glint came to his side.

"Unlike common pokémon like you all, I don't have a reason or need to lie about where I come from just to get attention from others. I let the proof shine through with my actions…" he continued before his paws began to take on a white glow.

"I bet you're all talk and no ac-" Houkai started to cut in before getting struck across the jaw with Mach Punch and sent skidding across the ground.

"Houkai!" Ryley yelled out and began to make a move towards him before receiving a Mach Punch above his left eye, causing him to spiral into the ground next to the fallen Jolteon. Before Shin could attack someone else Firefly stepped in.

"That's enough, Shin! It's me you want so leave them alone!" she barked.

Hearing her declaration, Shin turned back to her with a smirk. "Technically… It's not you I want… I want what's laying dormant inside of you." he told her.

While he turned his attention towards her, Glint stood between him and the rest of Firefly's group and used Double Team, creating a double for each member. "Nobody interferes."

Shin could tell by the look on her face that she was unsure of the situation, like she didn't want to let the presence out. He could see her facial expressions change and then her gaze shift to her friends who were being held off by Glint.

"No, I won't do it!" Firefly declared.

"Oh… such a shame." Shin taunted before slowly moving over to the grave that they had come to see. "Let's see… who thinks they can take me…" he wondered aloud as he made his way over to where Glint's copies stood.

"No, Shin! Leave them alone!" Firefly shouted.

Without paying attention to what was just said, Shin looked to the Riolu and smiled.

"How about you?" he asked her before seeing the quilava and the Flareon come to her aid.

"That's enough, Shin!" the quilava barked.

"It doesn't matter what your intentions are even someone as heartless as you has to have respect for the dead!" the flareon added.

The smile on Shin's face soon became a snarl at all the outbursts as he turned to the two that stood between him and his chosen target.

"The next one of you that speaks out of turn will be sharing this grave with the weak piece of shit that already occupies it." he declared before turning back to Ole.

"Tell your friends to move… Or else…"

Before the Riolu could react, Firefly jumped in between them with hate filling her eyes.

"You… do **NOT**… threaten… my friends," Firefly growled.

Out of the corner of his eye, Shin could see the two pokemon he punched get up and slowly make their way over to the group.

"If I wanted to, I could've killed them." he told her, still smiling. "You do realize that, right?"

Seeing that his statement caught her off-guard, he laughed before continuing.

"You see, I don't want to waste time or energy with these worthless piles of Team Rocket waste. I came for the thing inside you, now I suggest you let it out now."

"I refuse," Firefly told him. "There's no way in Hell I'm letting that demon out."

"That's a shame…" he replied before slowly tracing his tail across the grave they had been standing next to. "Actually, I was hoping it'd come to this."

"Leave her grave alone!" Firefly growled.

"Or what?" he asked her as the tip of his tail slowly descended into the ground until half of his tail was submerged. "Now this is the last time I'm going to tell you, give me what I want."

"And this… is the last time… I'm going to tell you… to leave… Stickers's… grave… alone!" Firefly seethed.

"Have it your way!" Shin yelled before his cheeks began to spark wildly, indicating that a certain attack was coming.

"Don't do it!" Firefly shouted.

Before he launched the attack, Zan, Nite and Rio appeared.

"Shin! No!" Zan yelled… but it was too late…

"Discharge!!!" Shin yelled and an eruption of electric energy lashed out from within him. Instantly, the area where the grave was exploded in a shower of dirt and electricity. During the attack, Shin glared daggers at Firefly while laughing as the attack continued to demolish the grave.

"…No…" Zan muttered as he fell to his knees in front of Rio and Nite, watching the desecration of the grave that contained one of Firefly's dearest friends.

While the attack continued, Ryley was the first to yell out, "Stop it Shin, there's no need for this!"

"Have some respect for the dead, damn you!" Ole shouted as well.

While they stood and glared at Shin, Nite and Rio glanced to Firefly to see how she reacted.

"Z… Zan… W-what's happening to her?" Nite stuttered out, his eyes wide with fear as he hid behind Rio who also looked scared.

"…Shin… Shin got what he wanted." Zan told them as he looked over to her as well. What he saw frightened him a bit as well.

What they saw was her seething through gritted teeth as she seemingly stood, staring at the ground. They knew that her friends were looking at her as well and saying something but it was all tuned out as they watched what looked to be a transformation begin to take over her body. Soon her body began to give off an eerie red aura that frightened everyone but Shin who began to see that she finally came around.

"Finally… You give me what I want." he spoke up before ending the attack. After all the dust settled from his attack, all that was left of the grave were the markings that were now in shambles and a large crater where Stickers' fallen body was laid to rest.

Zan took note of the sight and gritted his teeth, anger filling him as well while he realized that if he would've stood up to Shin, this might not have happened at all. But it was ultimately too late for that now.

"So this is how badly you wanted to fight me, is it?" a voice spoke up from Firefly's direction. It didn't sound like her, it was full of malice and hate yet they knew it came from her. While everyone stood, frozen in fear. Shin took a step towards her, sneering.

"Come over here and find out…" he replied, his tail poised like a scorpion's behind him. Soon after he spoke, a red stone appeared on Firefly's forehead, signaling that the transformation was well in progress.

"What's happening?!" Ole yelled out, fear gripping her.

"You two, run for cover!" Zan yelled out as he did the same.

"Well, if you want me that badly… Then here I am!" the voice roared as a wave of evil energy swept across the area, knocking everyone down except for Shin. Zan and the others weren't able to make it to cover before it happened and they all stumbled and fell as well. Glint who had all of his copies covering Firefly's friends was knocked down and out of Double Team, the force of the shockwave leaving him on his back as well.

When everyone finally regained their footing and looked to Firefly, they didn't see the warm and loving winged fox anymore… They saw a black form… radiating with hate in her place.

Saturnine had returned…


	17. Epic Proportions

**Epic Proportions**

"That's… the p-pokémon Shin was after?" Nite stuttered as he stood, hidden and frozen behind Rio who also stood perfectly still, almost as if in shock.

"That's no ordinary Ninetails… She's much, much worse." Zan explained as he slowly backed up to protect Rio and Nite from any oncoming attacks. In truth, he knew that if Saturnine went to attack them he stood no chance of stopping her.

"_I can't stop her if she tries anything… I just hope I can buy them enough time to get out of here…"_ he though to himself.

Meanwhile, Shin stood perfectly still. Not out of fear, but out of satisfaction as he continued staring at the evil pokémon before him.

"Finally… You've shown yourself to me." he told her as he slowly drew his tail out of the grave that he had decimated just a few minutes earlier. "Finally… after months of searching, here you are…" he continued as his mouth began to curl into a snarl.

"Well… now that I'm here what do you plan to do?" the Demon Fox taunted.

"Something I wanted to do back when you wiped out my squad…"

* * *

Elsewhere, Giovanni was in his office watching a lackluster fight in the arena when a call came in to his speakers.

"You had better have a good reason for interrupting me," he warned.

"Sir, we have a situation in Enclosure Five!" One of the grunts watching the surveillance monitors spoke up."

"That's Firefly's enclosure… What kind of situation?" Giovanni answered, showing interest.

"It's Subject 03, he found her!"

"Hm, an unforeseen development… But it could be benefi-"

"Sir she's transformed!"

"I see... Send me the direct feed from that enclosure." Giovanni instructed, a few seconds later his monitor in front of him came to life and showed the picture that the grunt explained to him just seconds before. "Good, back to work."

"But sir, shouldn't we send troops?"

"No, now get back to work." he repeated.

"Yes sir."

* * *

"It's too late to die with them, I'm afraid. All you can do now is join them in death," Saturnine spoke. "Well, is that what you wish, little mouse?"

"Die?" Shin tilted his head with his response. "Who said anything about me dying?" He then takes a step towards her. "If anyone will be dying here, it's you… Halfling."

After hearing his declaration, a demonic laugh echoed from within Saturnine.

"Halfling! Is that what you believe me to be?!" she chuckled. "Oh, little mouse… how wrong you are. I am no mere 'Halfling'. I… am a superior breed."

"Really… Then why is it that the only time the little Ninetails can come out to play is when the weak little fox _**lets**_ her?" Shin mocked. "Almost like a child that can't play outside until her mother says it's ok."

"The 'weak little fox' as you call her won't be able to keep me under control for much longer," she retorted, growing more and more annoyed by Shin's taunts. "Besides, you should be thanking her for keeping me under her control for this long. Without her keeping me under her control many more would have died already."

"Thanking her for what?" he responded, turning around to face Houkai and the others. "You think I would give a damn if these wastes happened to die?" he asked with a chuckle before turning back to her, "I would've been grateful if that happened, it would've made reaching you that much easier."

After hearing Shin's latest remark, Nite turned to Zan. "You really think he wouldn't give a damn if we were all killed?"

"Honestly… I doubt it." he replied, "With him, it's always been 'the ends justify the means' no matter the situation as far as I know."

"Makes me regret not killing him when we all had the chance…" Rio added sharply.

Zan chose not to reply, but, inside he didn't really know whether or not he agreed with Rio or not. Sure killing him when he was weakened would've solved some problems, but, would it have kept all of this from happening? Who's to say that something else wouldn't have set Firefly off.

"I was including you as well, little mouse. In fact I can kill you whenever I please," Saturnine stated.

"If that's what you think, maybe you should try it. You may get surprised." he told her before his tail curled until the tip was just to the right of his head and pointed at Saturnine. "Or does the little Halfling want me to make the first move while she gets permission from the little fox?" he taunted with a smirk.

"If you really want to die that badly… then who am I to deny you!" With a blood-thirsty roar she charged, her mouth wide open ready to deliver a Crunch attack.

As she charged him, he was able to narrowly duck to the right. As he slid back from his sudden movement, he pulled his right paw back which began to shine brightly, signaling a Mach Punch. "Too slow…" he muttered before swinging for her head, albeit a bit slower from not being securely stable on the floor. Because of this Saturnine was able to duck to the side and dodge the attack.

"You were, weren't you," she hissed. Before Shin could pull his fist back she bit down on his arm and slung him to the ground.

"Hah, and here I was expecting a challenge! You disappoint me, little mouse!" she taunted.

"You should really pay more attention to your opponent rather than show off and taunt." he spat back, his cheeks beginning to spark.

What he was referring to was the fact that she hadn't noticed his tail was curled around her left-front paw. With a snarl, he sent a sharp spike of electricity through his tail and into her as he released his hold and rolled back to his feet while she shook off the attack.

"That was quite the little stunt. I think I might enjoy this," she purred, a devious smile on her face.

After rising back to his feet, his smile is gone and is replaced by a much more serious look, "Are you done yet?" he asked, seemingly tired of the half-assed attacks they had been doing.

"Aw, what's wrong? Is the widdle mouse tired of playing?" she taunted. Seconds later her face contorted into a menacing glare.

"Because if you want to get serious… then we can," she growled.

"Tch, juvenile…" he growled after hearing her remarks. "You're like a hot air balloon… you take forever to get ready and you're full of hot air…"

"Believe me, there's more than hot air inside my lungs!" she snarled. Her mouth opened wide as she fired a Flamethrower. Shin easily jumped to the side, but the attack was only a ruse. The next thing Shin knew Saturnine was in his face, a sinister grin on her face.

"Son of a…"

"Peek-a-boo… I see you," she growled. Then, before Shin could react, she slapped him to the ground with one of her tails. While he was down she slammed a paw on his back, preventing him from getting to his feet.

"You know, for all that tough talk you aren't backing any of it up. Disappointing," she grumbled.

While she taunted him, he glanced to the side and got an idea. He then was able slip away by using Agility.

As she glanced up and to the right, he stood on a rock glaring at her. "Still disappointing?"

"Seeing as how all you know how to do is dodge then yes," she answered. "Really now, how long do you plan dodging my attacks? I thought you-"

Before she could finish, he began laughing at her. "Simple bitch…You don't even know what you're looking at…" he taunted before the image faded away.

"What?! That tricky bastard!"

"…Behind you…" he growled, causing her to spin around.

Before she could focus on what was before her, Shin charged her head-on and nailed her with a solid Volt Tackle, sending her sliding back across the floor.

"Is that all it's going to take to finish this?" Shin gloated, "Because if it is, just turn and tuck all nine of those tails in between your legs and run… I might let you live…" he continued gloating. Until…

"Was that your best shot?" Even with sparks from Volt Tackle still dancing over her body Saturnine looked up at Shin, her eyes glowing a blood-thirty red.

"Because if it was… you're dead," she growled.

"Best shot?" he replied, "Bitch you haven't seen nothing yet…"

"And neither have you!" she yelled in response before charging him, rage filling her eyes as she lowered her head.

As she reached him, she ended up plowing through him and slamming into the rock behind where he was. She had charged another double.

"You're making this too easy!" he yelled out from above just as he fell on her back and grabbed her horns, firmly.

"Is there anything you'd like to say before I show you why I'm the alpha male of all pokémon, halfling?"

"Whatever you plan to do you had better hope it defeats me," she warned.

"Ask and you shall receive." he told her before his cheeks began to spark while he gathered energy. In case she decided to make any sudden movements to make him fall off, he wrapped his tail around her torso for extra support and grip.

From the sidelines, Zan saw what was going on and instantly recognized what was coming. He spun around to face Nite and Rio with a panicked look on his face.

"Get behind something and cover your heads!" he yelled to them before turning to Ole, Houkai and the others. "Find some cover!" he repeated to them before doing so himself by ducking behind a large rock.

"Well then, let's see how strong your grip is!" Saturnine started thrashing around in an attempt to dislodge Shin, but the Raichu held fast. After realizing that didn't work she took to the skies, believing that she could force him off by flying at high speeds. Once again Shin refused to let go.

"You are becoming a persistent pest!" she growled. She landed shortly after, Shin still on her back powering up his next attack.

"If I can't shake you off then I guess I'll have to yank you off!" Saturnine growled. Seconds later she wrapped one of her tails tightly around Shin's neck, trying to pull him off her back.

"You've got two choices… either let go or be strangled," she said. "Of course, even if you do let go I may strangle you anyway."

"Ack… stupid… bitch…" he was able to say before his eyes flashed a light blue color. After that happened he was able to maneuver his head around until he could bite down on one of her tails.

"Gah! You damn filthy rat!" Saturnine roared.

"Finally… Now, it's over Halfling!" he declared before gritting his teeth.

"Discharge!!" he yelled out.

After his yell, a buzzing noise could be heard before an eruption of electricity engulfed Saturnine and Shin.

The shockwave from the attack caused the rocks near them to break free of their foundations and start sliding away, the rocks that the others were hiding behind included.

"Did… they both die?" Nite asked, afraid to come from behind the rock he was behind to look.

Zan and Rio stood still, neither of them knowing what to make of what they had witnessed. Thankfully the attack was over quickly, but when they came out of hiding they were shocked by the amount of destruction that had been caused. Much of the ground, especially near ground-zero, had been scorched black. Tree branches had been snapped off and thrown around as if they were mere twigs. And at the center of it all was Shin, still standing but completely exhausted, and Saturnine, face down on the ground and not moving.

Zan could hear the others that were on the other side of the blast talking amongst themselves, he couldn't make out what was being discussed but he had an idea. He then turned to face Rio and Nite who were coming out from behind the rocks they were behind, Nite still seemed to be scared out of his mind while Rio was staring wide-eyed at Shin.

Shin's body looked completely spent after that huge bomb-like Discharge. His tail lay limply on the ground and he was slightly hunched over, breathing heavily with one eye closed and the other half open as a light trail of smoke seemed to be coming from his cheeks.

"Did he win?" Rio asked as he came up to Zan's side with Nite behind him.

"I… I really don't know…" Zan responded, staring in disbelief at the scene in front of them.

"He's done." Glint added in from behind them.

"What?" Nite wondered.

"The attack drained him completely, he put everything he had in it. You can tell just by looking at him."

"Yeah, you're right. For his sake I hope it's over…" Zan agreed.

"Let's see… you get up… from that… you stuck-up bitch," Shin growled while still trying to catch his breath from the attack. He also knew that he had nothing left in the tank, Discharge was his ace in the hole, so he went all out and now was paying the price physically. He then took a step forward and winced at the pain that coursed through his body with just that one movement.

"_It… has to be over…" _he thought as he took a deep breath.

"Be careful what you wish for… You just may get it…" a voice spoke up.

"…No… way…" he growled as he slowly turned to Saturnine's fallen body and was greeted by a sight that made his bulge in shock.

Slowly but surely, she rose to her feet. Her fur had been badly burned and ruffled from the attack and she also had a few scars across her body from the attack, but she looked to be in much better condition than Shin was.

"You know, that last attack really hurt. If you had put a bit more power behind it I may not be standing right now," she said. "Unfortunately for you it's too late to do anything about that now."

Shin stared in disbelief as she glared at him, her teeth bared into a wicked smile…

"…Fuck…"


	18. Locked and Loaded

**Locked and Loaded**

"He doesn't stand a chance." Glint commented as Zan walked up next to him, both looking at Shin's worn-out form and Saturnine's form as she healed herself.

"Glint's right… he's done. Discharge was his ace in the hole." Zan thought to himself.

"Are you just going to stand there while I regain my strength, or are you waiting to use one of your little tricks again," Saturnine taunted, a black aura surrounding her body.

"Either way know that you won't be leaving this battle alive."

"Heh… as far as I've seen… you haven't laid a paw on me." he replied. He then forced himself to stand upright and he slowly raised his tail off the floor as well. "All you've done… is run your mouth."

"What's he doing, he's out of strength and he's still taunting her? Is he that stupid?" Rio asked Zan.

"Winning battles takes more than just physical attributes, Rio. A good head on your shoulders can get you out of things your body can't on most occasions." he explained.

"…So he's…" Rio started to reply before Zan nodded his head in response. _"I see… he's trying to bluff her."_ he thought as he continued watching.

"_There's… no way I'm… losing to her…" _Shin thought to himself as he stood before her. He now knew that he was overmatched, and from the state he was in compared to the way she looked, he was horribly overmatched. She didn't look all that hurt, while he was struggling to stay upright, hiding pain with bravado. What bothered him even more was that she was healing herself right in front of him.

"Oh come now! After that last attack you look like something a Persian dragged in! In fact… I'm beginning to think that attack drained you of everything you had left," she assumed. "Am I right? Have the little mouse's batteries gone dead?"

"Well, why don't you come on over here and find out… What you see may surprise you…" he replied, cheeks beginning to spark.

While it was true that Discharge had drained him, he was currently in the process of working something out. A short-term solution at best. What she had failed to notice was the reason behind why his cheeks had been sparking for the last few minutes.

What he was trying to hide was that he had been using Charge constantly while he stalled since it became apparent that Discharge didn't work.

"Really? Well… let's just see!" With a blood-thirty roar she charged Shin, her right front paw drawn back for an attack.

"_Too easy…" _he thought before moving as much as he could to the right, her claws still slicing him deeply, but just on the shoulder instead of the neck where she had originally aimed. The attack caused him to wince in pain and let out an audible grunt from that and combined with his physical exertions.

"Surprise, bitch!" he yelled out before drawing his fist back and putting most of his built-up reserves into this one Thunderpunch.

"Gah! Damn rat!" she roared, stumbling away a bit before finally steadying herself a few feet away from the Raichu.

"_Got anymore… Ideas?…" _he asked himself as he watched her begin to shake her head while pawing at her eye, trying to clear the cobwebs. _"Think dammit, think!" _he yelled to himself as he slowly.

"Maybe next time you'll heed my warnings and listen when I tell you something, eh?" he taunted with a smirk.

"Or maybe you should make sure you put enough behind an attack to do some real damage before running your mouth," Saturnine countered. Shin watched in annoyance as the Demon Fox glare at him. Despite what she said Shin's attack did do some damage. A bit of fur around her eye was singed.

"So, was that your last ditch effort, or do you have something else hidden up your sleeve?" she asked.

"Bring your ass over here and find out. You did a good job the last time, halfling." he responded.

"I'd be careful with my words, little mouse. You may regret them," she warned. As she spoke, the clouds in the sky began to overlap and create shaded spots on the ground. Soon the overlapping clouds made their way in front of the sun creating a dark shaded spot where Saturnine stood. When the shadows formed, she was there. But as the shadows vanished so did Saturnine.

"_Shit… Didn't know she could do that…" _he thought to himself as he slowly looked around, his body still ravaged by the battle.

"So who's playing the tricks now?" he called out, trying to find movement.

"Trick? On no, my dear little mouse. This is no trick. This… is a demonstration of my unmatchable power," she taunted, her demonic laugh echoing all around him. "Tell me… does it frighten you, knowing that at any moment I can strike you down? Does it send a chill up your spine?"

"Actually, it sends a yawn out of my mouth…" he responds, taking a few small steps back to something he caught out of the corner of his eye. "I swear, you spend more time bragging and gloating about what you can do and how scared I should be." he continued before stopping. His cheeks then began sparking once more.

"Show me your strength that you seem to love telling me about, because as far as I'm concerned. You're still a weak halfling…" Once again Saturnine's demonic laughter echoed all around.

"Really? Then tell me… how does it feel to be outsmarted… by a weak halfling?!" Then, without warning, Saturnine dove from the shadows to the right of the Raichu, slashing at him and slicing three deep gashes in his cheek.

"Gah!" he yelped before falling and landing hard.

"For someone who exudes as much confidence as you are you sure aren't backing it up!" she spat, a dark ball of energy forming in her mouth.

As the ball of energy continued to grow in size, Shin slowly forced himself to stand up. Soon afterwards, with his back turned to her he began to laugh which caught everyone off-guard considering what was staring him down.

He then turned around, blood staining his right cheek and streaking down his face from the nasty cut across his left cheek pouch.

"You're such a fool!" he yelled out to her, continuing to laugh as he wiped some of the blood from his cheek with his left paw. He then wiped his paw across his chest.

"You're the one staring down death and yet you say I'm the fool? I think someone needs a change of perspective… and I think this will do just that!" Saturnine roared. She then let the Shadow Ball loose, the orb of dark energy hurtling towards Shin.

As the attack reached him, he leaned to the right and narrowly avoided a direct hit. It ended up grazing his cheek and leaving a burn mark. Deep down as he shook off the burn, he was amazed that Saturnine hadn't noticed that he was standing knee-deep in a watering hole. Or maybe she didn't realize what it meant for a Raichu to be in water.

"Oops… I guess my aim was a little off," Saturnine laughed, feigning humor. "Guess I'll have to get closer for the next one!" She then charged towards Shin, her right paw drawn back and glowing with a dark energy.

"You're so slow, it almost makes me sad for you…" he mocked once again, smiling as his head stayed tilted to the side.

"You should worry more about yourself than me!" Saturnine countered. Once she was in range she swiped at him with her Shadow Claw.

As she swiped, he didn't attempt to avoid it. Instead he let it connect with his midsection, cutting into him slightly and causing him to grimace and double over in pain. "Congrat… ulations…" he managed to mutter out to her, "You… lost…"

"Really? From where I'm standing you look like the loser here," she argued.

"Do you know…. Where you're standing, halfling?" he asked her as his gaze rose to meet hers, a sinister smile overtaking his facial features. Saturnine didn't understand what he meant. But then she felt something around her ankles. Looking down she was shocked to see she was standing in a small puddle of water.

Just as she made a move to get away and out of the water, he slammed the tip of his tail into the ground and latched onto her neck.

"You're lucky, you get to be a part of a brand new move that I've never used before, halfling." he taunted before his eyes flashed a bright shade of yellow. He then leaned back and struck her in the ribs with Drain Punch, giving him an added boost.

"W-Whatever… it is… you had better h-hope… that it's… s-strong enough… to defeat me," she growled.

"Let's find out…" he replied before using jumping high into the air, using his tail as a spring and bringing her along by the neck.

"What the hell?!" Rio yelled out as they all craned their necks up to see what was happening.

"He can use Seismic Toss?!" Nite wondered aloud.

"Enjoying… the ride, bitch?" Shin asked Saturnine, his face visibly strained.

"To tell you the truth… I'm a bit disappointed. If Seismic Toss was your brand new move then it was a waste," the Demon Fox spat.

"Just part one…" he told her with a smirk. "There was a reason I lured you into the pond," he continued before his cheeks began to spark before his body and hers suddenly were surrounded by electrical energy.

"I like to call this 'Seismic Shock' simply because it starts off with Seismic Toss… and ends in Volt Tackle!" he yells, shifting his weight as they quickly begin to descend, streaks of lightning appearing in their wake as they make a beeline to the water.

"Damn you, you filthy rat!" Saturnine cursed.

"_This is going to hurt…" _Shin thought to himself.

Soon they made impact with the ground with a mighty explosion. The explosion mimicked the sound of a cannon firing as water and pulses of electrical energy from Shin were sent flying all over the place.

"Geez!" Nite yelled while shielding his eyes.

"Glint… you see what I saw?" Zan asked.

"His strength ran out." Glint answered bluntly, as always.

"He couldn't deliver it 100% like he wanted to." Zan added after hearing Glint.

"You guys sure? That looked like one hell of a shot." Rio asked as the light died down.

"Yeah, it was a big attack. But if you compare it to his initial Discharge, it was a bit weaker in comparison. He didn't have enough left in the tank."

After the dust settles and the two bodies come into view, Nite walks back to Zan's side for a slightly closer look.

"You…. You think that's it?"

"…Honestly, at this point… I really don't know, Nite…"

"But that was, like, a huge attack!" Nite exclaimed, using his hands to illustrate.

As Nite was trying to show Zan how big the attack was, Rio caught a glimpse of movement from Saturnine's fallen body.

"No way!"

"What?" Zan and Nite both asked in unison before seeing Rio point to the fallen combatants.

At first it was just a slight twitch from the left paw, then she slowly and unsteadily began to rise to her feet. Once getting to her feet, the damage done by Shin's attack became evident. Her fur was badly burned in areas and she overall looked like she had been through a war. To top it all off, her left eye had swollen almost completely shut.

"I had a feeling that she wouldn't stay down…" Zan spoke up before turning to Glint and nodding in unison, agreeing silently to jump in if she makes a move towards any of the others.

"That r-rat… I've n-never… been hurt by anyone… this much," she gasped. She slowly walked towards him with a visible limp. She stood over his prone body, glaring down at him.

"I… must hand it to you, Shin. You've done what no other has dared to do," she spoke. "However, by doing so you have committed a cardinal sin… you opposed me… and for that… you must die!" She raised her left paw into the air. Moments later he claws took on a purplish glow.

"She's gonna kill him!" Nite shrieked and started to charge before Glint stopped him and shook his head. "B-but!"

"We aren't going to let you do anything rash, Nite…" Zan spoke up, his fists clenched in anger. He wanted to do something, just like Nite but he knew that he'd get killed before getting halfway to her. So, he was stuck, being a hopeless bystander as Shin lay unconscious.

"Farewell, Renegade. Hell awaits," she said.

And as suddenly as the motion began… it stopped.

"Why'd she stop?" Rio wondered.

"Shut up, Firefly! There's nothing you can say to stop this!" she barked. "Besides, if I remember you were so angry earlier you threatened him yourself!"

"The hell?!"

"Must be Firefly from inside." Zan observed.

"I am, by ending him!" Saturnine yelled out.

"You think maybe Firefly's trying to stop her from killing Shin?" Nite asked Zan.

"I don't know if that's the main reason behind her stopping Saturnine, but I don't think it's important to wonder that as of right now."

The sequence continued on for a few more minutes before a black aura began to overtake Saturnine's entire body. Her figure began to rapidly disappear behind the strange veil within seconds.

"Enjoy your life while you can, Firefly! Soon, your body will be mine!" With those words Saturnine's body became engulfed in a black aura. When the aura faded Firefly was standing in her place.

Once the aura had completely faded away, Firefly's legs wobbled slightly before she collapsed in a heap onto the ground next to Shin's still-unconscious body.

After a few seconds go by, Zan and Glint begin to make their way to Shin and Firefly's bodies.

"H-hey! Wait for me!" Nite yelled out before he and Rio hurried to catch them.

As they reached Shin's body, Firefly's companions were already next to her body and were looking to Shin.

"Alright, look. We don't share the same sentiments as he does." Zan quickly spoke up to dispel any possible ill feelings between them. "He just happens to be a member of our enclosure and a longtime friend of mine, that's all."

"We know," Ryley replied. "None of you share Shin's feelings towards Firefly or us, just as our feelings towards all of you are not the same as they are towards Shin."

"We know you guys are good, even if Shin is a complete ass," Ole added.

"When it comes to Shin, I kinda think of him as an ass too…" Rio spoke up before receiving strange looks from all involved. "…What?" he continued to which Zan just shook his head before turning back towards Firefly's group.

"Be that as it may I feel it would benefit us all if we were to keep these two separated for a time," Ryley suggested. "After this recent display I'm confident none of us want a repeat performance."

"Agreed, we'll take him back to our enclosure and you all take her back to a nice resting place. Hopefully next time we can meet under better circumstances" to which the Dragonair nodded in agreement.

Soon Firefly had been placed on the Dragonair's back while Glint had Shin's body drapped across his shoulder before slowly beginning to raise a couple feet off the ground to first get used to the extra weight before going anywhere.

"Alright, let's go back." Zan instructed before beginning to walk off with Rio and Nite flanking him while Glint flew above them.


	19. Investigation

**Investigation**

In the 24 hours that followed the battle between Saturnine and Shin, Zan and the others had let Shin rest on some bedding that Nite had gathered while they try to wrap their minds around both the fight and Saturnine. They had no clue that Shin was just that strong, and they also had no clue that anything could be as strong as that Ninetails turned out to be. Truth be told, just being in the same area as something like that made them at least a little nervous, Zan and Glint included.

On one hand they knew that Firefly was nice and they had no worries about her, but they knew the opposite could be said about Saturnine. And the issue was that they had no clue when they'd be seeing her again.

"… You don't think she's going to come and find us here and kill us all, do you?"

"Nite… For the eleventh time, no." Rio replied, his voice filled with annoyance.

"But how can you be so sure, Rio? She just popped out of nowhere, she could do it again!" Nite exclaimed, frightened.

"As of right now, it's not possible, Nite." Zan spoke up as he and Glint made their way over to the two younger pokémon.

"How do you know?"

"The way Glint and I see it, there's a trigger for that black Ninetails to come out." he explained, "Firefly didn't change into that thing until Shin got her worked up enough, remember?"

"… Yeah… Yeah!" Nite jumped up, understanding what he meant now. "So what you're saying is, as long as Firefly doesn't get really, really mad, that black Ninetails won't come to kill us?"

"We aren't for certain, but that's what we're putting on money on for now until we know more. I planned on going back and having a talk with Firefly later on so we can know what exactly that thing was."

"Can I come, Zan?" Nite asked, always wanting to be involved in things.

"I'd rather go alone, Nite…"

"Oh, c'mon. Please, Zan? I promise I won't get in your way."

After a long sigh and a glance to Rio who shrugged, Zan nodded. "Fine, you can go."

"Awesome, I wanna talk to that Dragonair! I haven't seen one of them before."

"Weren't you just almost to the point of crying over the issue of possibly dying?" Rio asked.

"Well… Yeah, but Zan just told us that's not going to happen so I'm ok."

"… Sometimes you're just way too carefree, Nite…" Rio replied before shaking his head and going to check on Shin.

"What're we going to do when he wakes up?" Glint finally spoke up.

"Honestly… I haven't thought that far ahead, I'm just hoping he hit his head hard enough to forget all about Firefly."

"We both know that's, at best, highly unlikely."

"I know, I know… I just don't know what else to say to do or hope for when it comes to that though."

After a couple of hours spent gathering his thoughts, Zan decided that it was time to go see Firefly and her friends for an explanation of just what that thing was that she transformed into. He informed Glint that he was heading out with Nite and to tell Rio in case he got curious.

"C'mon Nite, let's get going" Zan called out before heading out. Before getting too far he turned back to Glint, "Make sure things don't get out of hand."

"Right." Glint nodded before turning back and making his way to where Rio and Shin were.

"Oh, Glint!" Rio spoke up as he saw Glint coming. "Where are the other two?"

"They went to have a talk with Firefly."

"Aww, I wanted to go too…"

"The only reason Nite's going is because he whined."

"Heh, sounds like Nite… Hey… What do you think Shin's going to do once waking up?" Rio asked him while turning back to Shin's prone body, " I mean, once he gets his strength back, I doubt any of us could stop him from going after Firefly again."

"We'll worry about that when it happens…" Glint told him before coming to a stop next to Shin and sitting down next to him. "Besides, I don't think it's Firefly that he wants."

"What do you mean?" Rio asked, now completely focused on Glint.

"…He never attacked her when he had a clear shot, but he almost killed himself fighting that thing she turned into."

"So… you think he just wants the other thing, and not Firefly?"

"More like he wants to kill the other thing she turned into but will go through her if need be."

Soon enough, Zan and Nite arrived at the enclosure that they had been at just 24 or so hours prior to this. With only just over a day having passed since the fight, tensions were still high in the enclosure, Zan could tell that much just by walking in and feeling it in the air.

"You sure everything's going to be fine? Maybe we should've brought Glint." Nite muttered out from behind Zan, peeking out at the surroundings.

"Nite, if you're that afraid you can always turn back." he replied, a little annoyed at Nite's insistence that he come yet now wanting to go back and bring someone else on a trip Zan originally wanted to make alone.

"N-no, I'll stay. I'll be fine."

"Alright then, good. Besides," Zan started before pointing ahead of them to the place they left Firefly. "I'm sure Firefly and her friends are right up there in that den."

"Huh?" Nite wondered before looking ahead at the little spot she was resting the last time they saw her. "Oh ok, let's get going then."

Soon enough they're at the entrance and making their way in. After a few seconds they hear voices from within.

"Hello?" Zan called out as they came into view of the others, all standing around Firefly, "Sorry if I'm interrupting things."

"It's okay," she said. "You're Zan and… Nite, correct?"

The Zangoose nodded to her before stopping next to them with Nite to his right who flashed a quick smile and then turned to the Dragonair and admired him.

"We came by ourselves just for two reasons," Zan explained. "The first of which is, how are you?" he asked her.

"I know that you weren't physically involved in the fight, but I'm pretty sure the situation took its toll on you."

"It did," Firefly said. "Though we are two different Pokémon we share one body. If she sustains any injuries they linger once we swap back."

"I had a feeling that's how things went." Zan replied before folding his arms over his chest, "I also have a feeling that you know what the other reason or question is going to be, right?"

"You want to know about her, don't you?" she guessed. "Alright. I'll tell you all."

"You sure, Firefly? You don't have to if you don't want to," Ryley said.

"No, it's okay," Firefly told him. "All of you deserve an explanation as to what that was." Though they hadn't known her for that long they all came to realize that once she made up her mind there was no changing it. Everyone gathered around and listened in, waiting for Firefly to reveal the identity of the creature that battled Shin.

"Her name is Saturnine. She's a demon born from the depths of Hell itself," she said. Ole wrapped her arms around her as the mere mention of that beast's name sent shivers up her spine.

"Ugh… even her name sounds demonic," the Riolu commented.

As the conversation continued onward, Firefly explaining to them just what Saturnine was and how she came to be, Rio was having a slight issue with his task…

"Shin, don't go starting anything else, please?" he pleaded.

"Don't tell me what to do, piss-ant…" Shin spat back as he slowly rose to his feet, grimacing as he does so. "That demon got lucky that my last attack wore me out… She won't get lucky twice…"

"Shin, you're in no condition to go anywhere!" Rio yelled before standing in front of Shin with his arms out to the sides.

"Either move… Or I'll make you move…" Shin told him, anger filling his voice.

"Shin, don't do this. You're in no condition to be out and about."

"I'll be the judge, and if you don't move in the next five seconds I'll be the executioner as well."

With that threat, Rio took a deep breath before standing perfectly still in Shin's way.

"I was told to make sure you sta-"

Before he can finish, Shin whipped his tail around and struck Rio across the jaw line, sending him spiraling into a few rocks off to his right.

"I don't give a damn, when I say move, you move…"

"03, nice to see you so spry…" A voice boomed in from the loudspeakers.

"…Giovanni…"

"Ah, so nice of you to remember me. Now let's see… Do you remember that proposition I gave you just a couple of days ago?" he asked Shin with a tinge of smugness in his voice.

"Yeah." Shin replied, remembering the offer of going through the arena to get to his prize at the end.

"It still stands, 03..."

* * *

Sorry for the long delay in posting this, no real reason behind taking so much time. Oh, if anyone wants to get a character in here just message me the details or put it in a review.


	20. Crescendo Rising

**Crescendo Rising**

"Giovanni called Shin back into the arena?" Zan asked after sitting down to talk with Rio.

"Yeah, right before you and Nite came back he called Shin into his office. Ever since he got out he's been training with Glint and a few others." Rio explained before motioning to a group of haggard looking pokémon sitting off to the side.

"In one way it's a good thing since it'll keep him from going back for Firefly for the time being, so that's one problem that's been put on hold."

"Yeah, but last time the deal was that Shin battle through the arena and Firefly would be his prize. Aren't you worried that this is the case again?"

"That's exactly the case I'm guessing. But at this point, it's a momentary break from a battle that I don't think anyone except for Giovanni wants to see."

While they continued discussing the situation, Shin was staring at Glint with the metallic pokémon staring back at him. Surprisingly, Glint had been able to keep up with Shin's moves for the most part. But gradually he began to slow down bit by bit until just about all of Shin's attacks were at least scraping him and his attacks were missing but a few inches. Glint knew that he was no match for Shin, but he didn't like giving up in a fight no matter the circumstances. He would quit when he couldn't go any-

"That's enough for now, Glint" Shin called out before standing upright and smirking.

"What?"

"I said that's enough, in your state you aren't really worth sparring with anymore." he replied bluntly to which Glint looked away for a second and nodded.

"Alright…"

After a few seconds of looking around, Shin eyed another pokemon that he hadn't gotten his hands on yet.

"Zan!" he yelled out which caught everyone's attention. "Get over here…"

Zan looked over his shoulder to him and shook his head before turning back to Rio, "Not now, Shin."

"Either you come here, or I go over there…"

"Shin, not now. I'm bu-" Zan began to respond before feeling the flat side of Shin's tail come in contact with this side of his head with slight force, mostly to just get his attention.

"I wasn't asking if you didn't mind or if you wanted to, Zan. Or would you rather I test Rio?" Shin told him, now standing just behind him. His remark about Rio sent a chill up Rio's spine, he didn't want any part of Shin in any way.

"Subject 03! Your presence is needed in the arena!" a loud voice echoed into the enclosure that scared the living daylights out of Nite who had been sleeping.

"Tch… Lucky you, Zan." Shin smirked before making his way over to the door and having it opened. "I'll see you all in half an hour at best, be ready Zan" he continued before his laugh echoed throughout the enclosure as he made his way out the door.

"Why does he have to be like that, Zan?" Nite asked, rubbing the sleep from his eyes.

"He's always been driven and determined… Borderline hard-headed." Zan began before sitting back down next to Rio. "But ever since he's been back, he's been acting like he's possessed."

"I don't see how you could be friends with someone like that at all." Rio chimed in as Glint made his way over, limping noticeably. "You alright?"

"I'm alright, this'll heal." Glint responded before sitting down against a rock and resting his wounded body.

"When he was here before, he wasn't this bad. Sure he had rough spots, but he toned it down for some, myself included. His one strong point has always been battling though, his mind never stops working. He's a mastermind on the battlefield, always has been," Zan explained.

"He has to be, raichu aren't known for their devastating power and while they're extremely agile, they're rather large. So he has to always think a step ahead."

"Yeah, he was awesome in that fight against the black thingy that Firefly turned into." Nite echoed.

"…Nite, you mean Saturnine?" Zan pondered to which he received a momentary blank stare from the young marowak.

"Oh… right, yeah." Nite replied.

"You weren't paying attention, were you?" Zan questioned.

"Well, at first I was. But then I saw that cool Dragonair and was all like 'woooow' because I'd never seen one before. Aw man, I really wanted to ask him wha-"

"Zan, since goofball wasn't paying attention to what was said. You mind taking this great opportunity to inform Glint and myself as well as dummy over there about what was said?" Rio spoke up, his interruption getting a raspberry from Nite.

"Well, I guess now is as good a time as any… Ok." Zan told him before beginning to explain everything that Firefly had told him…

"I don't like being kept waiting, Giovanni…" Shin called out while standing next to the door to the arena impatiently.

"Then follow the guard to your right." Giovanni's voice boomed over the speaker.

Shin turned in the direction he was instructed and saw the guard motioning for him to follow, which he did.

"This had better be good…" he thought to himself before being stopped next to a window to the arena. He looked one last time at the guard before glancing at the window and noticing two pokémon standing inside. One was a small Riolu… looked familiar and the other…

"Firefly?" Shin yelled out and turned back to the Rocket. "What the hell's going on?"

"Giovanni wanted you to watch the fight, 'enjoy the show' were his words." the grunt instructed before walking away hurriedly while Shin snarled at his retreating figure.

"So now I'm a spectator to that bitch of a pokémon and her friend…" he muttered under his breath as he watched a large and shiny-looking Snorlax make it's way onto the field of battle. "That… looks metal." he thought before a smile spread across his face, "Looks like Giovanni's still making freaks in here…"

He continued watching the fight with vested interest before being joined by Team Rocket grunt.

"I've got twenty bucks that says the Snorlax wins," The grunt told him with a smile.

"Heh, it also looks like Giovanni's still letting moron's join too…"

"What was that, you rat?" the grunt yelled at him, reaching for a pokéball. Shin lowered his head and closed his eyes before looking back in at the fight again, noticing that Firefly and the Riolu were having issues with their opponent.

"Since I'm watching this, and I know you didn't know any better then to call me that… I'll let it slide this time…"

"Just who the hell do you thi- Gah!" The grunt began before having the point of Shin's tail lodged into his right shoulder, the force causing his body to slam against the wall behind him.

"Listen, I am trying to watch this fight…" Shin started while the grunted squirmed in pain against the wall. "You interrupt again, and my tail will find it's way to your neck." he threatened before letting go and returning his attention to the fight before him.

"G-Giovanni will hear about… this…" The grunt stuttered out while leaving and holding his shoulder.

"Forgive me if I don't care…" he replied while watching the Snorlax stomp on the ground and Firefly slowly disappear into the crack in the ground that it caused. "When's she going to stop playing around…"

After a few more seconds, the ground closed up with Firefly still below leaving the little Riolu alone against the metallic behemoth.

"This'll be fun…" he commented as he now watched the Riolu survive and buy enough time for Firefly's inevitable return. He knew she was in the crack when it closed, but he also knew that it wasn't enough to do her in.

After a few minutes of watching the smaller pokémon scramble out of the Snorlax's reach, Shin began to grow bored with the whole spectacle. "Giovanni, if this is going to be the gist of this battle. Just allow me to finish them both and get this over with…"

"Patience, 03" Giovanni responded through the speaker lodged into the wall next to Shin's head.

Just as Shin was beginning to wonder how many attacks the one-way window could withstand, a Steelix popped out of the ground suddenly. "Hm, unexpected."

The more he watched the new pokémon, he began to realize that it was just Firefly transformed. "Clever…" he thought to himself as he watched the battle ensue once more.

As it began to look like the battle was winding down, Shin's attention turned back to the speaker so he could attempt to understand just why he was here.

"Why was I brought here?"

"You will see."

"I'm going to ask you again, and I want a different response this time… Why am I here?" Shin responded, his tail beginning to rise behind him and into a striking position.

"03, you will behave or you will not get a chance at 01 in the arena." Giovanni responded smugly.

After a few seconds of scorned silence, the blade at the tip of Shin's tail struck the speaker, causing it to shatter and sparks to fly about the room. "Wrong answer…"

"03... That wasn't a wise idea… But I'll let it pass seeing as I have you at a disadvantage." Giovanni's voice rang through the room from another speaker on the opposite wall.

"Disadvantage?" Shin responded, looking at the other speaker.

"Those vents on the wall are for more than just keeping the room cooled down…" he taunted which caused Shin's face to contort into a snarl. "Now I suggest you wait like I said unless you want to wake up somewhere you don't want to be."

"Don't make threats that you can't follow up on." Shin threatened before turning back to the fight, by now it looked as if things were finishing up. The Snorlax was reeling and holding it's ears while the Riolu charged towards him for an attack. As the smaller pokémon charged the larger one, it's fists began to glow white before the attack landed and caused the huge metallic Snorlax to fall to the ground.

Soon after, from the looks of it, the Snorlax was still alive and they had no intention of killing it which also didn't surprise the Raichu. She had garnered a reputation as not being a finisher, something that he took great pride in.

"03, would you like to do the honors of finishing that failure off?"

"What's in it for me?" the Raichu asked before stepping to the door.

"Her." Giovanni responded before the doors began to open up for him. The light hitting Shin's face while a smile was widening across it. He saw the look on Firefly's face, not bothering to look at the smaller pokémon's face for he really didn't care.

"N-No way!" The Riolu gasped as Shin stopped his slow walk next to the Snorlax, glaring at Firefly the entire time.

Shortly thereafter, he turned to the fallen pokémon and hopped on top of it to stare down into it's eyes. "Such easy prey…" he whispered to the Snorlax.

"Hold on, Shin! You don't have to do this!" he heard Firefly yell from behind while he raised his tail up above the large pokémon's head.

"Don't have to?" Shin responded, looking over his shoulder to her. "I know I don't have to." he finished before bring the point of his tail down right into the throat of the unconscious pokémon. When his tail made contact, there was a loud metallic scraping noise when the metallic point of his tail pierced the metallic skin of the Snorlax. The action caused the Snorlax to writhe around on the ground while blood began to spew forth from the slice in it's neck until slowly growing limp as blood began to pool around it's body out of its neck. Soon all movement left the bludgeoned pokémon as it went completely limp.

"I wanted to…" he continued before sliding his tail out of the open wound and looking at the blood that dripped slowly from his tail and eventually wiping it across the Snorlax's stomach, leaving a trail of smeared blood across it before hopping down to the ground and into the blood, causing it to splash slightly onto his face as he slowly turned to Firefly and Ole.

"If you didn't like it, do something about it." he taunted. After making the comment, he could tell that it had gotten to the little Riolu as her face began to contort into a snarl.

"Why you no-good, arrogant piece of-"

"Cool it, Ole." Firefly interrupted her, "If you try something now he'll have no problem killing you as well," she finished.

The whole ordeal garnered a smirk from Shin as he began to reluctantly walk away and back to the door he entered from.

Before making it there, he stopped and turned back to them. "Thank your friend, Riolu. She just saved your life" he commented before continuing on his way to the entrance.

Once there he turned a corner and glanced at a speaker, knowing Giovanni was on the other side.

"You had better pray that you live up to your side of this…"

After Shin had made his comment, Giovanni flipped a switch next to the microphone for the speaker.

"Genetics lab, prep Project P-14 for the arena…"


	21. Unfiltered Rage

**Unfiltered Rage**

As Shin stared down at the fallen body of his latest arena victim, a Furret that didn't really put up much of a fight. The main reason it lasted as long as it did was due to Shin taking his time and enjoying himself and wondering if this was for real, if Giovanni actually thought that weakling would put up much of a fight. After a few more seconds passed by, Shin finally punctured the windpipe of the pitiful creature and watched the life slowly drain out of the pokémon until it stopped all movement.

"This is pathetic, did you really think I'd have problems with a pokémon like this?" he called out to Giovanni who he knew would be watching.

"Whether or not I thought he'd be a challenge is not for you to decide, your match is done, please leave 03."Giovanni's voice answered before an audible click came through the speaker's, signaling that the channel had been closed.

"Not for me to decide…" Shin repeated as he slowly began to walk out, something was amiss… He just didn't know what that something was just yet.

Before he got too far though, another Team Rocket lackey approached him and gave him instructions to follow him that were straight from Giovanni. After turning a few corners he led Shin to a door and stopped next to it before it opened up to him. Once inside, Shin grew a tad frustrated as he realized something…

"Another observation room?" he yelled out, "What makes you think I want to stand around and watch others fight? This is unbelievable!" he ranted while the grunt quietly made his way out of the room, the door closing behind him.

Once on the other side of the door, the grunt held his radio to his mouth and clicked the button for him to speak. "Subject 03 is in observation room 2, sir."

"Good…" was the answer through the speaker before transmission ended and he began to walk off once more.

Inside the room, Shin glanced around at his surroundings and noticed that this room looked exactly the same as the last one he was in, minus the damage he did to the other one. The only difference that he could make out was that this room had a 2 on the wall while the other room had 5 on it.

"The only reason Giovanni would have me in here would be because Firefly's about to fight." he surmised before looking through the one way glass and seeing nothing but an empty battlefield, illuminated by the overhead lights from above since the sky had darkened when nightfall came about.

"Something doesn't feel right…" Zan spoke up which caught everyone's attention.

"What do you mean?" Rio asked, not understanding the worry. "He's at the arena, there's no telling what he's fighting and how long it'd take him to finish it."

"I don't know, I just…. Just have a bad feeling is all." Zan continued, "Call it a hunch or something…"

"I think you're worrying way too much." Nite chimed in from behind as he twirled his bone around with his fingers.

"Say what you want, but something just doesn't feel right…" Zan repeated before walking off, trying to either figure out just what that feeling was and/or shake that feeling. He knew from experience that arena battles can sometimes take a bit of time and he also remembered that there were other times when Shin didn't return until rather late from battles.

After waiting around for roughly fifteen minutes, Shin saw the doors begin to open and a familiar silhouette come through.

"I should've known you'd want me to sit around and watch her fight again…"

"Not quite…" Giovanni taunted before the other door opened and revealed a Pikachu that looked strangely familiar to Shin.

The sharper-than-normal point on the tail… Brown fur darker than normal…

"No… You… You didn't…" Shin stuttered, his eyes growing wider by the second as he pressed closer to the thick, glass window. "Br-brother?"

"Yes 03, that is your brother. I found him after we captured you two years ago, he begged to be let go just like you." Giovanni taunted once more, "Your parents would be proud…"

"You… If she…"

"All arena fights are to the death, one way or another. You should know this by now."

"Stop this, Giovanni. Right! Now!" Shin ordered, becoming frenzied at the sight of his brother for the first time in two years fighting to the death in front of him. "End this, now!" Shin yelled but noticed there was no response, Giovanni had stopped replying.

"You bastard!" he yelled before turning back to the glass and noticing that the fighting had already started and Firefly had the upper hand easily. After seeing his brother get slammed against a rock and clearly labor to return to his feet, Shin began banging on the glass. "P.K! P.K!"

From his vantage point, things didn't look good at all. Firefly was slowly making the battle more and more one-sided with every attack and it looked as if P.K wasn't thinking his attacks through like he should. Almost as if he was hurrying for some reason. The next thing he saw was them trade Iron Tail attacks and, once again, Firefly sending him back into another rock which caused Shin to wince to himself while still trying to find a way into the enclosure as panic begin to set in. He could see his brother was beginning to slow down rapidly.

"No, no, no!" he yelled out before seeing P.K begin to charge up for Volt Tackle, "No, Don't! Brother!" he continued before seeing Firefly charge up for Flare Blitz.

"Giovanni, stop! Don't let them continue!" he pleaded to the speaker and slammed his fist into the wall in frustration after getting no response. A few seconds later he sighed before hearing an explosion from the arena and turning back just in time to see his brother slam against a rock once more.

"Br… Brother?" he whispered to himself as he slowly made his way to the looking glass. No matter where he looked, there was no movement in his brother's body. "No… No…. No, no" he repeated as a single tear began to trickle down his cheek.

All the forgotten memories of his family began to flood into his mind, when he and his brother went out hunting for berries, the goofy sparring matches they had to entertain their parents on rainy nights. The one time P.K. sprained his ankle and Shin had to carry him home and they both received a tongue-lashing from their mother and a punishment from their father.

"You… You'll pay…" he began muttering as the tear reached the pouch on his cheek and sparking began to emanate from it as well as the other. "I'll make you both pay… Firefly… Giovanni…"

Soon his entire body began to pulse with energy causing the window to start to lightly rattle. As his gaze shifted upwards, his arms began to shake while he gritted his teeth and lunged for the glass in a blind rage.

"I'll Kill You!" he screamed at the top of his lungs as he crashed through the glass, particles of it becoming lodged in his fur and cutting into his skin but that didn't matter. All that mattered was vengeance… Vengeance for his brother on the two responsible for this…

"Y-You! What are you…" Firefly gasped as she took a precautionary step away, the sound and scene shocking her.

"I'll rip your heart out, Bitch!" he roared before drawing back his fist as it began to glow white. After closing the distance between them he struck her in the ribs with a mighty Focus Punch which caused Firefly to gasp in pain as he pinned her to a rock while he drew back for another. With each blow he delivered to her, he put more and more of his energy than the previous shot. After the fifth punch, the rock shattered and she fell painfully to the ground, writhing in pain and confusion.

"S-Shin… w-what's wrong w-with you?" she stuttered out as she continued to struggle for breath.

"You… I should have killed you when I had the chance…" he grunted out, glaring a hole through her. "Now I'll make you pay for what you've done!"

"But… I have no idea what I did," Firefly argued.

"You killed my brother, now feel my wrath!" roared before charging up in the blink of an eye and striking her with Discharge. Firefly screamed in agony as the attack tore through her body and wracked her with massive amounts of pain until the attack finally ended.

"S-Shin… I'm s-sorry… I d-didn't know… he was… your b-brother," she stammered out, hoping to halt the Raichu's rampage but to no avail. The only thing that would stop him was if his brother were alive or if Firefly were dead… And he was working on one of them…

"His death is on your head!" he started before the look on his face twisted even more, "Until I detach it from your neck!"

"P-Please, Shin! Listen to… ack!" she began before being silenced by a kick to her stomach which caused her to double-over once more.

As she slowly looked up again, wincing as she did so she saw Shin slowly walking towards her and cracking his knuckles ominously. Rage still filling his animalistic eyes as he did so.

"You won't be so lucky to die quickly. This will be slow… and painful…"

"I'm going out, c'mon Rio." Zan spoke out before making his way to the doorway leading to the other enclosures.

"What about me and Glint?" Nite called out.

"You two stay here incase Shin comes back, if he does, come find us Glint."

"Alright," the metallic bug replied soundly.

"Zan, are you sure this is a good idea?" Rio asked, unsure of what was going on. "I mean, if something is going down wouldn't it be better to stay in a group in here instead of going off and possibly being caught in the middle of something?"

"I'm willing to take that chance, if you don't want to come just say so and you can go back with Nite and Glint." he replied as he continued marching onward, he knew something was amiss and he was determined to find out what was happening that had him so on edge tonight.

After leaving the enclosure they run across the door leading to the arena and other areas and the guard on the other side. Once reaching it they bang on it to try and get his attention but to no avail.

"He's ignoring us…" Zan mumbled before turning away while Rio walked up to the door and smirked.

"Not for loooooong," he replied in a sing-song way. Afterwards, he placed his paw on the window and grinned. "Hey, can this window withstand a Force Palm attack?" he asked to which the guard turned to him and did a double-take at the paw.

"You two get back to your enclosures, now!" he ordered before turning back away.

"Suit yourself…" Rio added before using a weakened version of the aforementioned attack which caused a large crack in the glass to spread from top to bottom and the guard's eyes to bulge out in shock while Rio was grinning ear to ear. "You could've answered, you know."

"You idiot, what'd you do?" the guard yelled out, his voice cracking a few times.

"I asked you something and you didn't answer, so I had to find out myself." Rio responded before Zan turned back to the guard with a slightly bewildered look on his face since he didn't expect him to do that either.

"So now that we have your attention, is something going on?"

"Stupid pokémon, go back to your enclosures before I call in security to force you back in." he threatened.

Knowing that he and Rio could easily bust through the door and take care of him, Zan knew that back-up would come and things would get bad for them for a while. So he thought against rushing the door and told Rio to follow him.

"What's up" Thought we wanted an answer?"

"We do, but if we tried to force something out of him the only thing we would've gotten was a load of grunts staring at us…"

"Well… I guess that makes sense to walk away, but what do we do now?" Rio asked as they slowly walked along to a pond for a short drink.

"Don't know… guess we wait a bit and see if something happens…"


	22. Reckless Abandon

**Reckless Abandon**

"Oh, nooo. Noo noooo, we aren't finished yet. We've just started to have fun…" Shin growled at Firefly while stalking her, his barrage of punishment still hadn't let up as she lay on the ground, struggling to her feet.

"Shin… please, stop… I didn't know…" she gasped out as she braced herself for the incoming attack which turned out to be him hurling her up into the air with a Focus Punch.

As she limply flew into the air, time seemed to slow down in the arena. Below her, Shin had launched himself towards her, malice in his eyes as the distance between them closed up until he reached her and delivered a bone-shattering head butt which sent her hurtling down and into another rock, her body striking it with a sickening thud as he landed a couple feet from her. Although his onslaught had slowed down, the attacks still had the same amount of venom and power behind them.

Halfway to her body, Shin took a quick and pained glance over his shoulder to his brother's fallen body. "Brother…" he muttered out under his breath before turning back to Firefly.

"Graahh!" he yelled out before charging again.

Once reaching her he picked her up and slammed her against a wall and held her there, staring into her eyes.

"S-Shin… I'm s-sorry." she repeated, hoping he would soon let up.

"You aren't sorry yet, bitch." he told her before taking a step back and watching her begin to slowly slide down the wall. Before she got too far he pinned her to the wall using his tail by taking the two points and triangular space between them as shackle and lifting her a foot off the ground and jamming the points into the wall, effectively choking her.

"When I'm done with you… all your friends and family will feel my wrath!" he told her.

* * *

"You still haven't told me what we're supposed to do now that we can't get through that door…" Rio pointed out to a slightly annoyed Zan.

"I hadn't thought that far ahead, ok?" he replied while looking around. "The only thing I can think of is that the guard will either leave or have to open that door eventually. So what I had in mind was just to wait here either both of us or in shifts to see which will happen first, ok?"

"Well, doesn't sound like much of a plan but I guess it's better than wandering around this place like a pair of idiots.

"Ummm… hi?" a voice spoke up from behind them, causing them to spin around on their heels and assume the worst but were met with quite the opposite.

Standing before them was a Charmeleon and a Marshtomp, both of which looked to be breaking… in?

"Um, who're you two?" Rio asked them to which they blinked.

"I was about to ask you the same thing." the Charmeleon spoke up.

"…Are you two… here for Firefly?" Zan asked, remembering that she said that she'd broken out before.

"Wait, how do you know her?" the Marshtomp spoke up.

"We've met her a couple times in here, she told us that she would be breaking out soon," Zan explained. "And since I doubt pokémon would want to break IN to this place, I'm just assuming that you're doing it to get her out."

"Yeah, we're here to get her out. Do you know where she is?" the Charmeleon spoke up hastily, as if in a hurry which wouldn't have been a surprise considering the circumstances.

"Well, at the moment. No." Zan replied before seeing the Charmeleon seemingly swear under his breath. "We're out here because I could sense that something was about to happen, and seeing you two standing there pretty much confirms it."

"Yeah, besides, we're kinda looking for someone too while we're out here." Rio explained.

"So we're both looking for someone, huh?" the Marshtomp asked.

"Looks like it." Zan responded.

"Gah, we aren't making any progress at all just standing here and sitting on her hands!" the Charmeleon growled before beginning to walk off in the direction Zan and Rio had just came from.

"You can be in a hurry all you want, but I guarantee that way won't get you anywhere." Zan called out.

"How do you know?" the Charmeleon asked as he spun around.

"That's where we came from, our enclosure." Rio answered to which the Charmeleon scoffed and came back grumbling.

"Just calm down, alright?" the Marshtomp instructed, "Rushing off in a random direction won't get us anywhere but lost at this point."

As Zan and Rio continued to think, they looked over at the other two and noticed that they seemed to be deep in thought about something…

"You catch that, bro?" the Charmeleon asked.

"Yeah. Mom's in the arena," The Marshtomp added which caused Zan and Rio to glance at each other strangely.

"Uh… we miss something?" Rio asked, hoping for some clarification from either of them.

The Marshtomp turned to them and motioned to an amulet that had been around both of their necks. "We're speaking to our sister using these. You see, they have special powers that let us speak telepathically with anyone who wears one too,"

"Wow, that sounds really conven-" Rio started before being cut off by Zan.

"You said the arena?" he asked them.

"That's what we were told, why?" the Marshtomp asked before noticing a look of shock on Zan's face.

"What's going on?" the Charmeleon chimed in, looking a little concerned. "What about mom being in the arena?"

"Zan, what's wrong?" Rio asked, drawing a blank.

"Rio, you don't remember?" he asked before turning to the Lucario.

After a few seconds of staring into space, trying to figure out what Zan was getting at his eyes widened.

"Shin's at the arena!" he blurted out.

"Is that a bad thing or something?" the Marshtomp inquired.

"Ever since they got here, Shin's been bound and determined… to well… kill Firefly for something he felt that she did to him before they arrived. Something to do with something called the Gold Unit." Rio explained rather bluntly which caused Zan to wince slightly at his choice of words.

"K-Kill her? He wants to kill her?" the Charmeleon shouted, hoping he didn't hear him right.

"It's apparently a long story that even we don't know all of, all we know is that Shin has vowed to kill her at any cost and if they're both at the arena…" Zan trailed off and glanced at the other three, seeing three different concerned faces…

"Well, what're we waiting for?" the Charmeleon roared before turning in the wrong direction once more.

"For you to turn the right way and follow us?" Rio replied with a smirk before leading them on their way to the arena while the Charmeleon brought up the rear.

* * *

By now, Shin's assault on Firefly had gone down to just relentless punching. He had gotten her pinned up against a rock and had been raining down thunder punches onto her writhing body, the smile gone from his face and replaced with a snarl that twisted more and more every time he glanced back at his brother's body. Part of him was beginning to think about finishing things, but the bigger part of him wanted to make her suffer just a bit more… This inner war had been going on for roughly five minutes now and showed no signs of letting up.

By now, just about all signs of life had left her body except her breathing and the occasional plea for him to stop.

"S-Shin… Stop…"

"Hmph…" he snorted at her in response before standing up straight and noticeably breathing a bit heavier. "I'll stop when my brother breathes once more!" he yelled before leaning back, his paw glowing again as it balled up into a fist. He then took a short step towards her and delivered another focus punch that broke the rock she was positioned on. Without anything for her to lean against, she was sent sliding, once more, across the arena with Shin slowly stalking her fallen body.

"The moment he takes another breath, I'll stop. But until then… You get no reprieve…" he growled before stopping about twenty feet from her body and getting down on all fours, brandishing a horrifying grin on his face. "I do believe it's time now to let you meet him though…" he told her before his cheeks began to spark.

"I'm… s-sorry…" she muttered as loud as she could.

"You're not sorry for killing him!" he roared, sending a shockwave of energy across the arena. "You're only sorry because you couldn't get away with it like you had gotten away with making a fool of my squad months ago!"

"You fight with a clear mind, you care nothing for the ones you've killed! Only when it benefits you do you care but no more!" he declared, his eyes once again filling with rage. "You've taken your last life, Firefly! Go and meet them on the other side along with my brother where they'll extract their revenge!" he yelled out before beginning to charge her, electrical energy enveloping his body as he did so.

Before he could reach her however, an explosion erupted from the double doors to his left causing him to glance over in mid-stride.

"What the-" he began before being struck with one of the doors that had just been blown away by an outside force, causing his body to hit the ground and his vision to fade to black while he slid a few feet before coming to rest in a small puddle of water.

* * *

"Shin…."

"Shin…!"

"Wake up, Shin!" a voice echoed into his mind, causing him to slowly open his eyes and come face to face with…"

"P.K.?" he yelled out, not believing what he saw. "But…!"

"Yeah, it's me Shin. And yes, I was killed." PK responded bluntly.

"Then… how are you staring at me like this?"

"You were hit by debris from an explosion, for now you're unconscious. But that could change soon…" he told Shin which caused his eyes to widen.

"How?" Shin replied.

"I can't tell you that, all I know is that if you're here then you're either near dead or dead, brother." PK told him before walking a few steps away, "Mother and Father are just over that hill too."

"M-mother's here?" Shin responded, tears forming in his eyes at the thought of seeing his family again after so long and after the way they had died.

"If you want, I can take you to meet'em. They asked about you and everything."

"Mom and dad… They… they want to see me after what happened?" Shin asked, remembering the fact that he blamed himself for their death. A death that he feels like he should've stopped as he thought back to what happened…

"I gotta get a buncha' berries! Especially more than brother!" a young Pikachu told himself as he happily went from tree to tree, looking for different berries to bring home. As he found more berries, he plopped them down carefully onto a large leaf he had been dragging across the ground that looked to have about fifteen berries already on it.

"There's no way PK'll have more berries than this! Mom and Dad'll be so happy." he exclaimed before jumping down from the tree and placing two more berries on his leaf.

Before he could go very far, he heard a noise come from the bushes behind him and turned to glance at them.

"Hello?" he called out before sniffing the air reflexively. "Might just be some Pidgey or something" he told himself before turning back around and continuing on his way.

After taking two more steps a Mightyena leapt out in front of him, scaring and causing him to fall over.

"Um.. H-hi…" he told the larger pokemon before noticing that saliva was dripping out the corner of it's mouth as it began to bare it's fangs to him. "P-please… You can have my berries if that's what you want!" he stuttered out before beginning to slide across the ground back from him.

A few seconds later another Mightyena came walking up behind him with the same snarl on it's face as the first one.

"M-mom? D-d-dad?" he muttered out before getting to his feet, a few tears beginning to streak down his face as a third Mightyena came up alongside the first one.

In one instant, he ducked into the bushes to his right and began running as fast as his legs would take him to the only place he figured he could be safe at, his family's den.

"Mom! Dad! Help me!" he called out as he continued running through the brush and hearing the growling and barking coming up behind him, slowly gaining on him.

Before too long he arrived back at his den to find nobody around. "Mom, Dad! Where are you? PK?" he yelled out before the three Mightyena appeared in front of him once more and began to slowly take step after step towards him. By now tears were flowing down his face freely as he backed up against a tree.

Before he knew what happened, two yellow blurs came across in front of him followed by a smaller yellow object and took out two of the hounds, causing him to look around and notice that two larger Pikachu were standing in front of him now and the smaller one was standing next to him.

"Are you ok, Shin?" one of them asked him.

"Mom! Dad! PK!" he called out, happy as he had ever been in his life.

"Stand back, Shin. We'll handle them" his father told him before circling to the right of the last Mightyena who had stood it's ground while his mother did the same to the left.

"Where'd they come from, Shin?" PK asked as they watched their parents.

"I was picking berries and then… and then they showed up out of nowhere and started chasing me!."

Before anything could be done to the final one, three more Mightyena came out of the bushes behind the first one while the other two they had just knocked away got back to their feet and slowly surrounded them.

"Look out behind you!" Shin called out, trying to give them the heads up to the fact that there were now six of them and only two of them.

"Shin, PK! Get outta here!" their dad yelled to them.

"No! We wanna help!" Shin cried out before taking a step towards them which made a few of the Mightyena turn to him and growl.

Before the hounds could react, Shin's father barreled into one of them while his mother dashed straight at him.

"Mom, what're you-" he started to ask before feeling her body collide with his, sending him spiraling backwards and off a nearby ledge. "Mooooom!" he yelled out before seeing his brother quickly spiraling through the air on the same path as he was.

At the top of the cliff they were falling from, he could see his mother staring down at them. At that instant he knew what was going to happen and why she did what she did…

"Shin, how long are you going to sit there and blame yourself for what those Mightyena did?" PK asked him.

"If I would've just died right there instead of running back to our den, our parents would still be alive and I'd be the only dead one!" he yelled out before turning away.

"We both know that if you had died out while collecting berries, they would be the ones blaming themselves for your death then. Besides, they probably would've hunted down the pack of Mightyena anyways"

"Then they would've been ready and prepared for a fight like that and wouldn't have had a problem defeating them! Thanks to me, they weren't prepared and were killed trying to save us!"

"Shin, it wasn't your fault…" a voice spoke up from behind them. He slowly turned around to see that that soft, gentle voice belonged to his mother who looked exactly the way she did on that fateful day and standing next to her was his father who also looked the same as he remembered him.

"M-Mother… Father?" Shin asked, not sure if he could believe his eyes.

"Yes, it's us." his father confirmed.

They were at least a six inches taller than he and his brother since currently they had the bodies of two, small Pikachu… Just like they looked back then too.

"Shin, you aren't the cause of why we died. The Mightyena were, think about it…" his mother explained before his father stepped forward and placed a paw on his shoulder.

"If you had stayed away to protect us and gotten yourself killed, it would have only been a matter of time before they tracked PK down and then got us when we weren't expecting it." he continued.

"But…" Shin started before being hushed by his mother.

"If you hadn't came to find us, they would've killed all of us one by one. So in a way, you saved your brother." she told him before smiling warmly toward him and PK.

"But then what about just now in the arena?" Shin asked, "I stood by and watched you get killed by that… that… Vulpix!" he growled before noticing a smile creep across his brother's face.

"She did beat me up pretty bad, didn't she?"

"How can you sit there and joke about this, PK?"

"I know it must've been hard to watch… but in truth, she wasn't the cause of my death." he revealed before going to stand next to his parents as they all looked to Shin.

"It was Giovanni…"

"Giovanni? How?" Shin questioned, a snarl creeping across his face again.

"Before the fight… Long before the fight and leading up to it, he was running tests on me." PK revealed. "To see what would be safe to use in future experiments on other pokemon, including that Vulpix and some Ninetails he mentioned."

"Firefly and Saturnine…"

"Yeah, that was the names he said. He also said something about me being similar to another subject he had run tests on in the past. Something about a subject 03"

"That was my test number…"

"I thought so, anyways… After a few weeks, he deemed me useless and ordered that I be done away with. So the scientist in charge decided that they should try a new poison on me to see how it reacts to pokemon…"

"So Giovanni… Poisoned you and then sent you in…"

"Sent me in to fight against her." PK finished.

"And had me watch from the viewing room… He must've been banking on me believing that she killed you so I would want to fight her that much more and be a nice test or something for her…" Shin realized. "He was using me the whole time and then used you as the catalyst…"

"You know what you have to do now, don't you brother?"

"… Yes…"

"Just know… that we will all be waiting for you when your time comes." PK told him with a smile.

In a flash, Shin's body was enveloped in a flash of light. When the light died down, he had taken on his current form, a Raichu.

"We'll always watch over you, Shin" his mother spoke up, still smiling.

"Give'em hell." his father chimed in which caused Shin to return their smiles and nod.

"I'll make him pay… I'll make him dread the day he was born…" he growled before turning away from his family and running towards a voice he could hear but couldn't make out who it was or what they were trying to say…

* * *

"Shin… Shin, say something…" a voice pleaded in his head as noises and scents began to draw him back to consciousness. Slowly, he began to stir.

"Zan! Rio! He's waking up!" Rei called out which got their attention.

"Re… Rei?" Shin mumbled out as his eyes opened. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"I… I came with Firefly's group to save everyone, including you Shin." she told him, smiling down to him.

"Firefly…" he grunted as he slowly sat up and began to try and rise to his feet.

"Shin, let us help you." Zan instructed before being moved aside by Shin.

"I don't need… help." he replied before finally making it to his feet and wiping the blood that he begun to stream down the side of his face. "Where did Firefly go?"

"She went off to destroy this place's generator and send it to hell while the rest of her group is trying to help and save all the pokemon they can." Rio began before they started explaining the situation.

"So, she's headed to the generator…" he replied before sniffing the air and turning to the left and up towards Giovanni's viewing room and noticing the glass was shattered. "She went that way…" he uttered to nobody before looking to his right and through a doorway.

"Shin, what're you thinking?" Zan asked, worried that he still wanted a piece of the Vulpix.

"You three do what you wish in regards to her plan, I have other things in mind…" he told them before beginning to slowly walk off in the direction Firefly and her group left.

"Shin! Wait!" Rei called out.

"Rei, go with them. They'll keep you safe." he instructed without breaking stride. "Zan."

"Yeah?"

"That Pikachu… take it with you… Don't let anything happen to him…"

"But… isn't he dead?"

"Just do it… for me." Shin repeated, a hint of sadness in his voice.

"…Alright, I'll protect him. But what about you?"

"I have unfinished business to attend to…" Shin responded before breaking off into a run and disappearing around a corner…

* * *

**And now, a few words from the author**

First off, I want to thank all of you who have read this story so far. Especially a certain someone who's been kind enough to send reviews.

Now, I'd also like to know how a story gets over 700 views and just over 20 reviews, all by the same person. Seriously folks, a little review wouldn't be too much to ask would it? Let me know how you feel about the story, what you like and don't like or even if you hate the blasted thing.


	23. Ground Zero

**Ground Zero**

"The hell do you think he's planning now?" Rio wondered aloud after throwing his paws up in frustration.

"No clue… but I think it'd be best if we just do what he asked us to do regarding that Pikachu over there." Zan suggested before making his way over to him.

"Why do you think he wanted us to bring this dead Pikachu along anyways?"

"…I think that's his brother or something" Rei spoke up before turning to them. "I don't know why, but I got that kinda vibe from it when he turned to us and asked us to get it out."

"Wow, really? I didn't even know he had family." Rio spoke up while he followed Zan to the body. "He ever tell you anything about his family Zan?"

"Once… but I thought that they were all dead in that incident, I didn't know his brother was still ali-." he began before being cut off by a familiar voice.

"I don't care what it takes! I want all escape attempts stopped! Kill them if you must!" Giovanni's voice boomed over the intercom.

"Oh no, Shin!" Rei gasped before turning to go running after him.

"Hold it, Rei…" Zan spoke up as he bent over to pick up PK's body, "I don't think that's a good idea that you have stewing in your head."

"Giovanni said he doesn't care how they're stopped!" she exclaimed.

"Shin said what he wanted us to do, I suggest we do that." he told her as he got on all fours and Rio carefully placed the Pikachu's body on his back.

"But…" she started before stopping herself because she knew he was right, deep down she wanted to help but she knew she'd probably just slow him down like she used to. "Alright… I just hope he'll be ok by himself, he wasn't in the best of condition when he left." she pointed out.

"He'll be alright, I don't like him that much but I respect him and his power… Oh Hell!" Rio exclaimed as his eyes went wide with shock.

"What?" Zan yelled out, spooked slightly from Rio's sudden outburst.

"Nite and Glint! They're still in the enclosure!"

* * *

"Glint… that didn't sound good…" Nite commented shakily after hearing Giovanni's declaration.

"Agreed." the Scizor replied before taking to the skies and hovering a few feet above ground level. "I suggest that we go find Zan."

"Yeah, me too. Lemme hop on so we can travel faster." Nite told him before hoping a few times rather goofily in the air for emphasis before Glint gave him a strange look and coughed once.

"I can't stay airborne and support both of our weights, I'm just a Scizor, not a Pidgeot."

"I'm not THAT heavy…"

"I'm not large enough for you to ride, that's all. Now let's go" The Scizor explained before taking off through the air.

"H-hey! Wait up!" Nite yelled at him from the ground, scurrying along, trying to keep up.

"Do you know where we're going, Glint?" Nite called out from below.

"I'm only speculating that the Arena might be a good place to start looking."

"But what if we walk straight into a- GAH!" Nite yelled out before a loud thud erupted from the floor, causing glint to stop and look down and see that Nite had tripped over an unconscious Team Rocket guard.

"Oww…. What'd I trip ov- Ahh!" Nite yelled out before back peddling into a wall after getting an up close glimpse of what he tripped over. "Is… is he dead?"

"No, just unconscious." Glint responded after landing near the body and checking his vital signs. "He'll recover, just not for a while."

"Well, well… what do we have here?" a voice spoke up from behind them…

* * *

"_Where'd she go_…" Shin wondered as he glanced back and forth down two different corridors.

With so many pokémon littering the area now, running everywhere it was downright impossible to get from one place to another without almost having to get into a battle with either a scrambling pokémon or a Team Rocket grunt willing to do anything to stop one from escaping. Anything including…

"Hey, you! Raichu!" a grunt yelled out to Shin's immediate right, causing him to turn towards him. The grunt then pulls out a pokéball and holds it in front of him. "Cooperate, and things won't get messy, alright?"

"You're threatening me?" Shin asked, a snarl crossing his face.

"No, I'm giving you an order to follow. If you don't follow it THEN I'll threa-Gah!" the grunt yelled out as he felt something pierce through his chest.

When he glanced downward he saw that the blade of Shin's tail was halfway into his chest cavity and blood had begun to spill out of the open wound as he felt a searing pain rip through his body and his legs begin to go limp.

"You… Bastard…" was all he could say before collapsing onto the ground and dying.

"You're out of your league…" Shin muttered before taking a few more sniffs of the air and looking to his left and darting down that corridor before beginning to hear voices that sounded familiar to his ears.

* * *

"Rio! Don't scare me like that!" Nite screamed while clutching his chest after discovering it was Rio, Zan, a Mawile and a, what looks to be, unconscious Pikachu.

"The temptation was too great to pass up, sorry." Rio apologized before looking up and seeing Glint in the air, "So where are you two going anyways, I thought Zan instructed you to stay in the enclosure until we ca-"

"I can speak for myself, Rio…" Zan spoke up.

"Oh… sorry."

"Anyways, why'd you two decide to head out on your own anyways?"

"Well, we heard Giovanni's declaration and figured that we should come find you incase you were in trouble." Nite explained before Glint landed next to him.

"What's the Pikachu body for?"

"It's a long story that we don't even have all the answers to."

"Right, Shin asked us to protect the Pikachu even though it's dead." Zan followed up before turning back the way they came. "He ran off after Firefly."

"Wait, that's a dead pokémon you're carrying on your back Zan?" Nite yelled out, slightly freaked out from his friends lugging around a dead body.

"We'll fill you in on the way, for now let's just head towards the main entrance. It's where Rei told us that they came in at so the rest of them will more than likely head there to escape." Zan instructed before motioning back the way they came.

"Oh, so your name is Rei. Ok." Nite acknowledged and smiled towards her which received a smile back from her.

"C'mon, dumb-dumb. Get the lead out!" Rio called out while turning to follow Zan while Glint took back to the skies and Rei ran along as well.

"W-Wait! Don't call me dumb-dumb!"

"She may not have killed you brother, but that doesn't mean she's forgiven for her past transgression." Shin thought to himself as he made his way through the winding hallways, the two certain voices getting louder.

"Wearing down already?"

"You… wish! As long… as there's… life… in me… I… will… never… give up!"

"Then I shall have to take the life from you! Finish her, Persian!"

"_Hm_… _the first voice is Giovanni and the second is Firefly, that's certain_…" Shin thought to himself as he rounded one last corner and caught a glimpse of Firefly looking worn down and a Persian staring her in the eyes.

"You may have been our best shot at gaining world domination, but 02 is still alive, and we can always find others to take your place,"

"And now… to put an end to your existence," Giovanni declared, causing Shin to snort and start charging the feline.

"As long as I draw breath, no one shall take what's mine!" he declared before his body became engulfed in a ball of electricity.

Seconds later he slammed into the Persian, delivering a power volt tackle and sending the feline sliding on it's side back towards Giovanni to which Shin glared at him.

"What the… who did that?" Giovanni yelled out as he looked down at his pokemon and then back up at the culprit.

"S-Shin! What are you doing here?" Firefly stuttered out, unable to believe what she saw.

"You're end will come at my hands and no one else's, Firefly…" he declared before glaring up to meet Giovanni's eyes. "And you…" he growled to Giovanni.

"How DARE you interfere in my affairs!" Giovanni yelled while returning the Raichu's stare. "Persian! Teach that rat a lesson!" He ordered before Persian cried out and made a dive towards him.

As the feline lunged, Shin was able to sidestep out of the way enough to only be grazed by the Persian's razor-sharp claws, leaving three parallel cuts on his shoulder and causing him to wince slightly as blood began to seep through the open wounds. After it came to a stop behind him, Shin spun around and pulled his left paw back as it began to glow white before bringing it forward and slamming it into the feline's cheek, sending it into a wall rather handily.

"Now you…" Shin growled once more before taking a step towards Giovanni, not noticing the Persian rising back to it's feet and making another dive at him. The cat wrapped it's claws around his neck and bared it's fangs, ready to deliver a nasty bite. Before it could though, Shin swung his tail around and plunged it deep into the pokémon's side, the tip slowly emerging from the other side as well as blood spewing out of the wound.

The loud screech of the Persian sent an echo throughout the area as it began to limply collapse onto the ground, blood pooling around it as Shin pulled his tail out of it's side, the entire tip covered in blood.

"My Persian! How dare you kill him, you filthy rat!" Giovanni roared, to which Shin snarled.

"I appreciate the help Shin, but this time you took it too far! There was no need to kill his Persian!" Firefly scolded.

"I suggest you keep your mouth shut and be thankful that this isn't your blood…" he growled before taking a few steps towards Giovanni, "I'll make you pay for everything you've done…"

"I understand your need to seek vengeance, but right now we have bigger things to worry about!" Firefly barked, this latest outburst catching the Raichu's full attention.

"You know nothing!" he roared as he turned to face her, rage filling his eyes. "And you'd do well to know your place, shut your mouth and go before I finish what I started in the arena!"

"So you'd kill yourself just to get revenge? Do you know how pointless that sounds?" Firefly argued.

"What I do with my life and my motives does not and WILL not ever concern you unless you keep trying my patience!" he fired back.

After receiving an exasperated glance from Firefly, he turned back to Giovanni only to see that he had disappeared.

"Dammit!" he yelled out before turning back and noticing Firefly's actions in the generator room. He noticed her blasting a hole in it with a modest flamethrower and felt the corresponding tremor that followed the damage. What she didn't notice was that Shin's glare had fallen on her now that Giovanni had escaped for the time being.

"Come on, Shin! We have to get out of here!" she yelled to him before turning to face him.

"You…" he began, "Thanks to your insistent whining, he's gone!" he yelled at her before gritting his teeth.

"Where the Hell did he go?" she barked.

"You're lucky that it wasn't you that killed my brother in the arena, because right now it's the only thing keeping me from finishing you off" he growled before turning back to where Giovanni was standing and taking a few quick steps in the direction, kicking the dead Persian against a wall and out of the way.

After rounding a corner, he could've swore he heard Firefly call out to him one last time before being cut off by a loud explosion which shook the ground beneath him, causing him to brace himself against a wall.

"Damned Vulpix… blowing the generator's going to cause this place to go down before I can find that bastard…" he muttered to himself as he sped up his walk to a full-fledged run, half trying to find Giovanni and half trying to find a way out.

"As far as I know, he could've made his way to an escape route while she ran her mouth back there… That stupid, loud-mouthed Bitch…" he continued before another explosion rocked the ground under him again and a piece of the ceiling almost came crashing down onto his head.

"_Tch, his death will have to wait_…" he thought to himself before beginning his trek to find a way out of the base.

* * *

"Look, it's the main entrance!" Rio pointed out as the group continued to sprint behind Rei who had been leading them towards the entrance.

"The rest of the pokemon should be just outside the door, c'mon!" she called out before reaching the door and looking back to make sure they all were able to keep up.

After they had all went through, Rei glanced back inside the base longingly. "Please be ok…" and sprinted out behind them.

Soon enough they saw a large gathering of pokemon ahead of them.

"Looks like all the others made it out before us, man there were a lot of pokemon in that facility." Rio commented as they finally came to a stop once reaching the large group.

"I wouldn't say all of them…" Zan chimed in before setting P.K's body down, "I don't see Firefly."

"Yeah, you're right. You think she's still in there?"

"By now, she should've reached the generator and started her escape… I hope she makes it." Rei added in to which they all nodded. "Shin too…"

* * *

Back inside the base, Shin was still hunting for an exit and being unsuccessful. Not to mention the throbbing pain from the open wound on his head from the double doors being blasted off and striking him above his left eye.

"I can't die here… Not with my brother's body just outside…" he thought to himself while running down a hall and leaping over some rubble that had recently fallen from the ceiling.

"All of this shit falling from the ceiling is making things almost impossible to find a way out… Wait…" he whispered to himself before coming to a stop and looking up. "The ceiling!" he yelled to himself.

"Maybe, just maybe I can go up and just have to deal with the floor being missing instead of things falling from above and blocking my way." he thought before nimbly leaping through a gap in the ceiling above him and climbing his way through some insulation, among other things.

Finally he was able to make it to the second floor and found that it's passageways were a lot easier to navigate since he could simply leap over the gaps in the floor and climb over the much smaller amount of debris.

As he rounded a corner, a thunderously-loud explosion erupted behind him and shook the entire foundation around him.

"No… no!" he yelled out before breaking into a full sprint as the flooring beneath him started to give way as the rumbling steadily built up.

After rounding one last corner, he saw a window in the distance with sunlight streaming through the shattered glass.

"_There!_" he thought to himself as he continued his gallop to freedom.

Before he could reach the window though, he felt the floor beneath his feet give away. Before he could react, he felt himself slowly begin to fall to the floor below. "No!"

He hit the rubble beneath him, head first and left a slight streak of blood where he skid across the floor.

"Gah….ah…." he moaned before struggling to rise to his feet.

From his eyes, things began to move in slow motion. The base began to collapse drastically around him as blood from his wound got into his eyes and tinted things red as piping fell to his left and narrowly missed him. His footsteps became uneven and very wobbly as the wear and tear on his body all began to hit him at once. The fights in the arena, the battle with Firefly among other things.

Suddenly a pipe from the base's water system fell down in front of him and blasted him in the face, causing him to stumble backwards and shake his head until his vision was restored.

After getting the water from his eyes he looked around quickly and saw that he was seemingly trapped, then he looked up and saw the ceiling beginning to crumble.

"Mark… my words, Giovanni…" he began as he lowered his gaze to the floor. "I'll kill you even if it takes an eternity!" he yelled before another tremor shook the base and the ceiling came falling down…


	24. Moving On

**Moving on**

"SHIN!" Rei yelled out before making a move to run back towards the now-crumpling base after a tremendous tremor shook the ground beneath their feet.

"Rei!" Rio yelled out before grabbing her by the shoulders and holding her in place so she wouldn't rush ahead.

"Let me go! Shin's in there!"

Deep down Zan wanted to say something to calm them all down, but he really had no idea what he _could_ say. As far as he knew, Shin was more than likely either dead or dying in the middle of the falling base.

"Come on, Shin…" he thought to himself before seeing two objects flying in the sky. "Hey, look up there!" he called out to the rest of them.

"Hey! It's Firefly, she made it out!" Nite yelled out before seeing her and her companions land with her group about 50 feet away from them.

While they had noticed Firefly's arrival, Rei's eyes stayed glued on the base as it continued to slowly crumble to the ground in a cascade of explosions and dust. "He'll make it out… he has to…" she kept repeating to herself, unintentionally tuning out everyone else.

While to others it may seem like she was harboring feelings for the cold-hearted Raichu, but the truth was that she believed that he saved her life when they met. She was just a young and inexperienced battler that would've easily been taken out by the lowliest of Team Rocket patrols. But thanks to her traveling with him, she had learned so much and gotten a lot stronger thanks to him whether he meant for it to happen or not.

After a few more agonizing minutes of waiting, Rei began to slowly make her way towards the base now that it had almost completely crumbled down to nothing save for a few small, still-falling structures. Eventually, they all followed behind her with Zan bringing up the rear after setting PK's body down on the ground gently.

"Rei… I don't really know what to say other then…" Rio began before seeing her lift her hand up as if to stop him short of finishing his sentence.

"Please don't… Don't finish…" she responded before lowering her head.

Just as Zan was about to say something a small explosion occurred on the western end of the base.

"What the hell? There couldn't be anymore electronic stuff that's frying, is there?" Rio groaned.

"Shin!" Rei yelled out before beginning to run over to the area.

"Rei, wait!" Zan called out to her before sprinting behind her with the others on his heels. "Rei, there's no guarantee that it's him!" he pleaded.

Suddenly the area became covered in a slightly blue-ish tint of light before another small explosion erupted and an object came flying out, landing on the ground next to a tree. By now they could see the object and could tell it was indeed him.

"Shin! You made it!" Rei exclaimed before stopping next to him and her facial expression taking a complete turnaround once seeing him close-up.

His body was covered in a wide assortment of cuts, scrapes, bruises and scars. The worse one was a deep gash above his right eye that was seeping blood down the side of his face and staining his fur a deep crimson.

"A-are you alright?" She asked him, unsure of the situation now.

"I'll be fine…" he responded before wincing slightly and turning to Zan. "Where's PK?"

"I laid him down under a tree back there." he replied before pointing to the yellow Pokemon's body in the distance to which Shin nodded before leaning against the tree he was standing next to.

"Are you ok, Shin?" Rio asked.

"I'll be alri…" he started before sniffing the air and narrowing his eyes slightly to see off in the distance, a large group of pokémon with one in particular at the center of them. A pokémon that he had unfinished business with…

"Firefly…" he muttered before pushing himself off the tree and beginning to walk towards her group.

"Wait, Shin don't!" Rei pleaded, grabbing his paw and tugging it. "She helped evacuate all of those pokémon and take down the base!"

"Let go of me right now…" he growled under his breath causing her to slowly release him, a little frightened.

"But Shin… She saved all those lives and destro-"

"I don't give a damn what she's done for others!" he roared, catching the attention of a few of the pokémon in Firefly's group.

"Shin, let her reconnect with her family and friends first ok?" Zan asked, hoping to calm the situation but already getting a feeling that things were beyond being able to be calmed.

"Why should I give her a luxury that I'll never have, Zan?" Shin asked, sounding angry before turning to the Zangoose. "She wasn't responsible for his death, but she did nothing to prevent it!"

"I haven't known her for long, but I know already from the limited contact that she's a very sincere and caring individual that would've done more had she been able to, Shin."

"It was Giovanni that killed him… wasn't it?" Nite asked to which Shin nodded slowly.

"He was poisoned once he was deemed useless to the testing facility, as per Giovanni's orders." he explained.

"That's horrible!" Rei spoke up while covering her mouth with her hand in disgust.

"If those are the circumstances under which he died, why do feel the need to attack Firefly while she bonds with those she still has?" Glint spoke up, surprising all including Shin.

"It's my business and unless you want to be next you'd do well to stay quiet."

He thought back to all the instances when he was blinded by his hatred for Firefly, then he thought about the current circumstances and realized something else was more important than that at the moment… Revenge on Giovanni.

"Go get my brother's body and meet me back here…"

"Uh, ok. But what about you?" Rio asked.

"Something needs to happen… now." Shin responded before continuing towards Firefly's group.

"Shin, no…" Rei started.

"I said go." the Raichu responded forcefully before picking up his pace.

At first Rei wanted to go after him but Zan stopped her.

"Let him go, I have a feeling that this time things will be alright." he explained before patting her shoulder a couple times and following behind the others that had already headed over to PK's body.

"I hope you're right…" she whispered to her breath before reluctantly following him.

"Something just tells me that things won't go south this time… It's just a feeling I have." he explained further as they reached PK's body and all looked back at Shin as Rio picked up the body and laid it across Zan's back.

By now all of Firefly's group had noticed his approach were whispering to each other about what he was doing there and how bad he looked. Truth be told, he could go for a little bit but he didn't have enough energy left to sustain more than one or two strikes which would leave him either turning tail and running or getting destroyed by the large group.

As he reached the outermost pokémon in the group, they slowly began to part until he came face to face with Firefly and her closest companions who he recognized from their initial encounter in the mountains.

"You and I have unfinished business, Vulpix…" he told her.

"I don't know what kind of business you're talking about, but you're in no condition to do anything," Firefly said. "You can barely stand on your own two feet right now."

"My condition is of no concern to you, I could drop you where you stand and not bat an eyelash, even in my current condition…" he threatened.

"But…" he stated before pausing and looking to the right. "Giovanni was responsible for the death of my brother in the arena, and because of that he has to pay for what he's done immediately, meaning that our issue will be handled at a later time." he explained.

"Giovanni killed him? But how? I was the one fighting him when he died," Firefly argued.

At first Shin didn't want to delve back into how it happened, but he figured it'd come up again down the road and decided to just get it over with.

"He was poisoned before the battle ever started, the strenuous activities in the battle didn't kill him, but I'd go out on a limb to say that it attributed to him dying slightly earlier than if he were relaxing…"

"If that's the case then I'm just as guilty," she sighed, looking down in guilt. "I may not have killed him, but I contributed to his death."

"If that's what you want to believe I won't argue, your guilt isn't my concern" was his response as he turned his back to her and began to walk off. "We aren't through, not by a long shot. I will come back for your life, Firefly" he told her while walking away.

After coming back to Zan and the others, Shin took a glance at PK's body and took a long sigh before turning away and motioning for them to follow.

"Let's go… I want him to rest somewhere that wasn't overlooked by this hell hole…" he explained before walking to the west.

"_I'll be damned if my brother's going to be buried near this godforsaken place or anywhere near it_…" he thought to himself as he led his group of pokémon through the trees and to their next destination.

* * *

"What? The facility was completely blown apart?" a voice yelled into the intercom.

"Y-yes sir, apparently from what Giovanni told them it was 01 and 03 that were mainly responsible." the now-nervous grunt responded.

"Professor, this is Mason. The mercenary you called for." a second voice chimed in from the communications room.

"Ah, Mason. Thank you for arriving so astutely, I assume you've been briefed on your orders and target?"

"I have, the target is a Raichu that is an escapee from your old facility that was destroyed by this same pokémon. Am I correct?"

"Yes you are." he responded, smiling on his end of the intercom.

"And I assume that you have the money that was ordered to be waiting for me when I arrived?"

"My assistant should be arriving with the briefcase containing the amount requested, and like we discussed, the other half will be given to you once the deed is done."

"Good, I'll be on my way to take care of this pest problem. I'll see you when I'm done, Professor Hilton." Mason responded before closing communications and grabbing the briefcase to take with him as he walked out of the newly constructed facility, deep into the western edges of Ichis.

"Finally… After months of overseeing the construction of this new facility, my revenge can be extracted on that damned rat!" Hilton yelled out to himself as he looked out a window and watched the wilderness below from his personal quarters on the fifth floor of his new lab. "I'll be able to do something not even Giovanni could do!"

* * *

I'm going to be taking a break from this story for a while. The reasons behind this decision are the 880 views and only one person reviewing and the fact that the motivation isn't there at the moment


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